THE M4 has been reopened between junctions 17 and 18 after a serious crash earlier today.

Two people were injured in the inncident which took place in the early hours of this morning mid way between the two junctions in the westbound carriageway.

Police and paramedics responded and specialist roads policing officers have remained at the scene throughout the day.

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: "We received a call reporting a serious collision on the M4 westbound shortly after 5am this morning. This is near junction 17 and Leigh Delamere.

"A Nissan Qashqai and a lorry were involved in the collision, we believe there to be two casualties at this time."

Officers have asked for anyone who witnessed the collision to get in touch via the force's non-emergency line on 101.

Motorists travelling west on the M4 have experienced long delays.

All three lanes of the westbound carriageway between 17 and 18 were closed for 11 hours, with two lanes reopening shortly before 5pm.

Vehicles were diverted off the motorway at junction 17, via the A350, A420 and A46 before rejoining the M4 at junction 18.

At one point, traffic was queued for some distance with all three lanes at a near-standstill heading back towards junction 16 at Swindon. Some HGVs opted to park up on the hard shoulder and wait out the delays.

There were also long delays around junction 15 near GWH with drivers trying to leave the motorway in advance of the main hold up.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this article, published on Saturday morning, reported that two people had died in the crash. This was based on what proved to be innacurate reporting from our sister paper. We apologise for any distress that was caused.