Drivers faced nine-mile queues on the M25 approaching the Dartford Crossing.

National Highways said there were delays of more than an hour this afternoon with miles of congestion on the M25 anti-clockwise between Junction 4 at Orpington and the Dartford Crossing.

It said delays were due to exceptionally high traffic volumes.

At its peak, traffic was held up for more than an hour and a half and stretched back for nine miles.

By 5.30pm, the wait was down to 30 minutes and queues had reduced to being back to Junction 3 at Swanley.

However, at 5.45pm it was reported that the left-hand of the two tunnels had been closed due to a broken down vehicle. It has since reopened.

As of 6pm, the gridlock was said to have cleared.

An earlier broken down vehicle at the Darenth Interchange was also thought to have affected congestion.

Today's hold-ups were a repeat of yesterday's delays, when similar queues built on the approach to the Dartford tunnel.

The roads were expected to be busier than usual due to the Boxing Day sales combining with the strikes on the rails, which meant there were no trains operating in Kent yesterday.