TRAFFIC was held and vehicles were queuing for eight miles this afternoon after a "serious collision".

The accident happened on the M62 westbound carriageway, between junction 23 (Outlane Interchange) and junction 22 (Rishworth Moor).

Highways England described the crash as a "serious collision", with traffic officers at the scene and the Yorkshire Ambulance Service (YAS) and the West Yorkshire Police Roads Policing Unit (RPU) rushing to join them.

A spokesperson for YAS said it was called to reports of a road traffic collision, just before junction 22, at 4.18pm.

YAS sent three ambulances to the scene and one person was taken to Huddersfield Royal Infirmary.

Lane two and three (of three) were initially closed, with vehicles allowed to pass in lane one.

This caused huge delays already, but traffic was then held from 4.30pm, leading to more congestion.

Vehicles were queuing for eight miles, all the way back to junction 25 (Brighouse), at the peak of traffic.

It was estimated that the accident added 85 minutes onto normal travel times, with an average speed on the carriageway of five miles per hour.

There were also some delays on the eastbound carriageway, as people slowed down to look at the accident.

All lanes were reopened at 5.20pm.