Busy motorway reopens following power fault

A busy motorway has reopened after an electrical fault required urgent repairs.

The M5 was shut in both directions earlier between Junction 22 at Burnham-on-Sea and Junction 23 at Bridgwater to allow National Grid to deal with the issue on an overhead line.

The nearby A38 had been allocated as the main diversion route.

The M5 was also closed in June in the same area due to the risk of overhead electricity cables falling onto the road, though a National Grid spokesperson confirmed Friday's fault was in a different location to the previous incident.

The spokesperson confirmed engineers had carried out an "urgent inspection" and had closed the road to allow the work to be carried out safely.

"Repairs have now been completed, and we'd like to thank motorists for their patience," they added. "We are sorry for the delays to journeys today while we undertook this essential work."

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