Stretch of M1 southbound closed near Northampton after 'serious' lorry crash

A stretch of Northampton's motorway has been shut this morning after a serious early morning collision.

UPDATE: The road has now fully reopened.

The M1 is currently closed southbound from junction J18 (Rugby) to J16 (Northampton) with delays of at least 60 minutes covering several miles of the southbound carriageway.

This closure is due to a serious road traffic collision involving a number of HGVs, which happened just after 12am today (Tuesday).

Due to the location of the collision (at M1 J17) the M45 eastbound to the M1 has been closed from its junction of the B4429 at Dunchurch, south of Rugby.

Diversion route guidance as follows:

For M45 eastbound traffic for the M1 southbound, follow the hollow black circle symbol, leave at the B4429 (Thurlaston) junction and join the B4429 heading east to the A45. Joining the A45 travel south to Daventry, follow the route onto Leamington Way and Stefen Way to continue on the A45 Daventry By-pass. Continuing east on the A45 from Daventry will take traffic to the M1 J16 to re-join the M1 southbound carriageway.

The diversion for M1 southbound traffic is to leave at J18, following the hollow black square symbol. Leaving at J18 and travelling west on the A5 and A428, Taking the A5 southbound to travel towards Weedon Bec and continuing through to Towcester. At Towcester traffic leaves the A5 to join the A43 heading east to re-join the M1 at its J15A.

There is a lot of congestion on the diversion route. Wider strategic traffic heading to London and the South East from the Midlands and North, may wish to consider alternative routes, (A1 and M40).

Further incident information is available from Highways England by visiting @HighwaysEMIDS regional twitter feed.

For urgent real time assistance, our 24/7 contact centre team is able to provide up to the minute information on 0300 123 5000.