THE westbound carriageway of the M56 near Hapsford Services had to be closed following a multi-vehicle crash earlier this afternoon.

The closure was put in place between J12 at Runcorn and J14 at the services near Helsby, resulting in lengthy delays.

Two lanes have now reopened.

One remains closed due to recovery work and there remains queueing traffic.

North West Motorway Police said shortly before 2pm: "We have full closure in place due to an RTC just whilst we move the vehicles from the live lanes.

"Once we have moved the vehicles we will open lane 1 to get you moving"