ROADWORKS set to take place on a major motorway tonight have been cancelled.

Highways England was due to shut both carriageways of the M62 between junction 22 (Rishworth Moor) and junction 24 (Brighouse) from 8pm this evening until 6am tomorrow morning.

But, the Government agency announced on social media website Twitter that the overnight works would be cancelled.

Highway England made the announcement at 5.17pm, less than three hours before the closures were due to come into play.

The cancellation is due to issues with separate roadworks on the diversion route, with drivers severely delayed during the M62 closures last night.

The roadworks causing the problems, which have been put in place by Yorkshire Water, are in Ripponden.

They are over-running and Highways England's investigation today established they could not be removed.

It then made the decision to cancel its structure maintenance works to prevent any further "severe delays".

The roadworks on the M62 will be re-scheduled.

Highways England said on Twitter: "Last night’s closure of the M62 caused severe delays to drivers.

"During today we have investigated and established that Yorkshire Water's roadworks on the diversion route in Ripponden are over-running and cannot be removed.

"We have taken the decision to cancel our overnight closures of the M62 to prevent these severe delays happening again tonight.

"We will be working closely with Calderdale and Kirklees Council to re-schedule our works."