A man and a woman suffered serious injuries from a car accident that closed the M25 in Kent on Sunday.

Fire fighters rescued one of the casualties from the blue Vauxhall Corsa which had collided with a road barrier at junction 5 - The M26/A21 junction. It closed the clockwise stretch of the motorway at 10.10am.

A female driver is believed to have suffered head injuries and a male passenger with leg injuries was also treated.

Congestion was causing delays of around 40 minutes.

Motorists who wanted to continue on the M25 were being sent on to the southbound A21, then being told to turn off at the A25 exit towards Westerham, then back onto the northbound A21 to rejoin the clockwise M25.

The police, Kent Fire and Rescue, the ambulance service and the Highways Agency were all on the scene.

Traffic stretched back to junction 4 for Orpington.