A number of vehicles struck a large piece of twisted metal which was exposed on a busy motorway.
Just before 12pm today, North West Motorway Police tweeted to warn motorists that two lanes had been closed to traffic heading out of Liverpool on the M62 betweem J4 The Rocket and J5 Huyton due to what they termed "a serious road defect that needs urgent repair".
This led to long tailbacks as the motorway was reduced to one lane.
It is believed the defect first came to light after a number of vehicles came into contact with the exposed piece of metal on the carriageway.
Council workers were sent to the scene to assess the problem, which occurred where two sections of the road are linked together.
The steel plate had come loose because the expansion joint underneath - which runs across the whole width of the carriageway - had become corrupted.
An emergency repair was carried out, allowing another lane to re-open.
However, one lane of the M62 at the affected section will remain closed for the whole bank holiday weekend because the temporary repair will need to be "signed off" by an engineer.
A permanent repair will then need to be carried out over the next week.
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