FIFTEEN-mile tailbacks left drivers in a spin after a flatbed truck ploughed through the central reservation on the M5 and blocked two lanes.

Yesterday's traffic chaos unfolded just after 2pm when the newly-built lorry - which had not even been registered - veered across all three lanes and straddled the metal barrier between the Bromsgrove and Droitwich junctions.

The crash sent stone chippings flying on to the carriageway. Other cars were hit by debris.

But miraculously, the truck driver escaped unhurt.

Sgt Mark Watkins, of the Central Motorway Police, said the fast lane on the north and southbound carriageways remained closed overnight while emergency crews cleared the wreckage.

The lanes were due to be reopened at lunchtime today after repairs had been carried out on the central reservation barrier and lamp-posts.

Tailbacks stretched from Junction 3 northbound, at Birmingham, to Junction 7, Worcester south, while vehicles were stacked up back to Junction 3 of the M42.

Frustrated drivers, stuck in 23C/73F heat, described the scene as "utter chaos".

"The driver was travelling southbound in a flat bed lorry," said Sgt Watkins.

"For some unknown reason, he lost control of the vehicle and crossed over the central reservation. He straddled it, really.

"Amazingly, he didn't hit any other cars, but some were damaged by the stone chippings which came off the central reservation.

"He suffered very minor injuries."

A spokesman for Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service said the driver had been taken to the Alexandra Hospital in Redditch for treatment. No information was available on his condition as the Evening News went to press.

Sgt Watkins said the lorry driver, who has not been named, had a lucky escape.

"Not only was he very lucky, the other people on the motorway were very lucky not to have been hurt, too," he added.

"When a vehicle ploughs through the central reservation the potential is horrendous."