Lancashire traffic: Serious crash in Preston closed parts of the M65 for nearly 12 hours overnight

At 7:58pm last night, National Highways confirmed that the M65 eastbound between junction 2 (the M61) and junction 3 (Hoghton) was closed due to a collision. They tweeted: "Emergency Services are working on scene. There are delays of at least 15 minutes in the area."

Half an hour later, National Highways confirmed the motorway was still closed and added that it was a "serious collision."

At 10:57pm, National Highways again took to Twitter/X to confirm that the closure was still ongoing and that "A Police collision investigation is currently taking place."

Nine hours after the M65 closure was announced, at 5:13am, National Highways wrote: "The #M65 is now OPEN eastbound between J2 (#M61) and J3 (#Hoghton) following a serious collision. Thank you for your patience."

Lancashire Police have been approached for further comment.