The M40 was back up-and-running today following Wednesday’s traffic chaos.

The Highways Agency confirmed both the south and northbound carriageways were operating as normal following the collision between two lorries.

A 46-year-old man was killed in the collision, pictured. He was not from the UK.

An agency spokesman said the southbound carriageway had re-opened shortly before 5pm on Tuesday, while the southbound carriageway had to remain closed until 8.30pm while the road was cleared, above.

A spokesman said: “One of the lorries was carrying a large amount of lard, which required the road to be cleaned extensively using strong detergents.

“Following that, we then needed to grit the road to make it safe and carry out repair work to the road and barriers.”

Heavy traffic was reported on both the M4 and the A40 all day on Wednesday, which were both being used as diversion routes following the crash.

The spokesman added: “The afternoon rush-hour was obviously busy, but because people knew about what was happening and advanced displays were put out, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

“Our winter maintenance programme has now swung into action and teams will be monitoring the weather conditions on a regular basis right through to the spring now.”

Traffic suffered delays on the A34 at Milton, near Didcot, yesterday after a caravan lost a wheel. at about 2.35pm. The northbound carriageway was reduced to one lane for about an hour while a new wheel was fitted to the vehicle.