Motorists are facing travel chaos on the M25 today after a serious crash led to the clockwise carriageway being closed in Hertfordshire.

At around 7.30am on Monday, emergency services, including police an air ambulance, were called to the scene of the crash between junction 17 and junction 18.

Videos taken at the scene show motorists stuck in total gridlock on the M25 as the road was closed as police officers from Herts Police investigated.

Traffic trapped between the M25 closure and crash site has now been released but full closures remained in place between junctions 17 and 18 at around midday.

The crash has caused enormous 10-mile queues back from junction 17 to junction 16 with the M40.

A Herts Police spokeswoman told getwestlondon: “ The latest update on our log says that there remains a full closure in place at Junction 18 and the exit slip to the A404.”

Traffic is being diverted away from the crash site, with Highways England suggesting the closure is likely to remain in place "for several hours".

Where is traffic being diverted to?

Official diversion

Traffic is being diverted via the 'Hollow Triangle' symbol, according to Highways England.

From J17, take the third exit to the A412 towards Maple Cross, then continue towards Rickmansworth.

At the A404 junction, take the A404 towards Chorleywood, then continue on to rejoin the M25 clockwise at J18.

Drivers stuck in huge M25 traffic jam get out of cars

The Highways England spokesman added: "The closure is expected to remain in place for several hours so please allow additional travel time and consider other routes or delaying your journey if possible.

There are delays on the M25 and M40 approaches to the closure."

However, there is also heavy traffic on the North Orbital (Denham Way) through Maple Cross due to the volume of traffic on the diversion, so here are some other alternatives:

Alternative routes

If you're travelling northbound from the M4, another alternative route would be to come off at the M25/M40 junction 16, and head westbound. You can then take the A355 exit at Beaconsfield, and follow the A355 north through Amersham and Chesham until you come to the A41 southbound which you can use to rejoin the M25 at junction 20.

Another option would be to head eastbound on the M40 before heading north on the A40 at junction 1, then take the A412 northbound. You could continue on the A412 though the diversion is causing heavy traffic there, so it might be worth taking a right at Denham Green onto Moorield Road, then going left at South Harefield onto Harvill Road which you can follow north until Batchworth and Rickmansworth where you can rejoin the A412 to Watfor before taking the A411 to rejoin the M25 at junction 20.