Police have condemned drivers who drove the wrong way down slip roads and carriageways to avoid queues after an accident on the M65.

They also revealed more than 40 drivers will be prosecuted for doing so.

On Sunday at around 4.50pm near to junction five on the eastbound carriageway a Toyota Prius collided with the back of a horse box.

The Prius driver – a 69-year-old man from Blackburn suffered minor injuries, however, the passenger – a 63-year-old Blackburn woman – suffered a serious arm injury. The horse was not injured.

Both lanes were closed for a relatively short period of time.

This was for the three emergency services to safely extract a trapped injured party from one of the vehicles and to safely remove the horse without causing it too much stress.

Police said they realised the inconvenience caused to people but it was very dangerous for people to take it upon themselves to decide to turn around and drive the wrong way down the carriageway or slip roads just to avoid the queue.

Blackburn with Darwen Police posted: “There was already a labour intensive incident but the selfish actions of some meant that more officers had to be deployed to various slip roads to stop people from travelling the wrong way and to avoid further incidents.

“Nevertheless there has been dashcam footage provided to myself which has enabled me to prosecute those selfish 40 or so drivers for their actions.

“If anyone else has further dashcam footage of the original RTC or of inconsiderate driver please contact 101 and quote log 1193 30/05/2021.

“Please be assured that if a motorway is going to be closed for a long period of time then the Police and the Highways Agency will initiate the correct safe method of turning vehicles around.”