The M20 was closed for nearly 12 hours last night after an articulated lorry carrying thousands of litres of vegetable oil overturned on the coastbound carriageway.

All emergency services were called to the scene of the accident about a mile from junction 9, where the carriageway was covered in debris.

The lorry, which was transporting 30 pallets of barrels holding about 5,000l of oil, landed on it's side, hanging off the road over a ditch.

The driver was not seriously injured and was taken to the William Harvey Hospital.

Highways England said all the oil had to be removed from the back of the lorry before it could be righted and taken away.

In a lengthy recovery process crews unloaded intact oil barrels from the trailer by hand and the trailer itself was in a 'fragile' state, further complicating efforts.

Drivers were stuck on the long stretch of motorway between Maidstone and Ashford had to be guided around the crash by police.

Traffic was diverted off the motorway at junction 8, and sent down the A20 to rejoin the M20 at junction 9 before the road finally reopened at 3.50am.

No other vehicles were involved in the crash, which happened just after 4pm.