UPDATE: M1 reopened following five-vehicle motorway crash in Northamptonshire

All lanes of the M1 have now been reopened after a crash involving four lorries and a caravan closed a stretch of the motorway this morning.

Long delays have been felt on the M1 southbound between junctions 16 and 18, after the major collision in the early hours of this morning.

A lorry driver has since been airlifted to hospital.

Police said the crash involved three articulated lorries, a smaller, 7.5-tonne lorry and a caravan, with one of the drivers being airlifted to a hospital in Coventry with ‘serious injuries’.

All three lanes were closed because of the police investigation and also the fact the accident caused a fuel spillage and 1,200 square metres of road surface had to be relaid.

At just before noon today workers were waiting for the tarmac to cool so white lines could be re-painted.