M25 closure – live: Six-mile tailback around diversion as stretch of motorway shut all weekend

Drivers have been warned to “stay at home” as the unprecedented closure of the M25 is expected to cause a “carmageddon” of gridlock traffic this weekend.

Miles-long tailbacks had already begun on Saturday in the run-up to the five-mile closure between Junctions 10 and 11 in Surrey, which was closed in both directions at 9pm on Friday and will remain shut off until 6am on Monday while a bridge is demolished and a new gantry is installed.

It is the first planned daytime closure of the motorway – which encircles London – since it opened in 1986. National Highways said its modelling indicated vehicles would face delays of up to five hours without mitigation measures, such as urging drivers to stay away.

An 11.5-mile diversion route has been created to direct traffic along A roads – and Inrix data suggested there were queues of around six miles along the route at Cobham on Saturday.

The M25 normally carries between 4,000 and 6,000 vehicles in each direction every hour from 10am until 9pm at weekends between Junctions 9 and 11.

M25 closure – how awful will it be over ‘stay home weekend’?

M25 diversions, closure map and alternative routes to use this weekend