TWO separate crashes on a major motorway carriageway is caused rush-hour chaos earlier.

The collisions both occurred on the M62 westbound carriageway, between junction 26 (M606, Chain Bar) and junction 27 (M621, Gildersome).

The crashes were just 700 yards from each other.

Highways England announced at 5:36pm that, due to the nature of the accidents, a full closure of the carriageway between the two junctions has been invoked.

It included the anticlockwise M621 road.

But, it reopened at 6:37pm.

West Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service, Yorkshire Air Ambulance and West Yorkshire Police were all at the scene.

Police were called to the first crash at around 4:40pm.

It involved two cars, a red Nissan Micra and a silver Vauxhall Astra.

The two vehicles were in the middle lane of the carriageway, which was causing some of the problems with traffic trying to get round, said a police spokesperson.

One of the occupants of the two cars sustained a broken leg, but the injury is not believed to be life-threatening.

The injured person was trapped in their vehicle and fire crews were assisting in rescuing them.

At this time, the second crash is believed to be less serious in terms of injuries, according to the police spokesperson. 

Traffic officers had to remove traffic that was stuck in the closure.

Congestion was also building on the eastbound carriageway as drivers slowed down to look.