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Motorists were caught up in tailbacks up to 15 miles long on the M25 as a crash sparked chaos during the start of the Easter getaway.

There were huge queues all day on the southern clockwise section between junction 8 Reigate and junction 9 Leatherhead following the “multi-vehicle” crash on Thursday morning.

A picture from the scene, shared by the Surrey Roads Policing Unit, showed a red car upended in the middle of the motorway.

It was surrounded by a scattering of smashed glass and debris, while a white people-carrier also had damage to its bumper.

Tailbacks were as long as 15 miles at midday and continued into the evening with delays of around 90 minutes - stretching back to junction 5 - as rush hour began.

Surrey Police tweeted: “Multi vehicle minor injury. We are clearing the lanes as quickly as possible.”

Emergency services confirmed they had been scrambled to the scene but there were no reports of major injuries.

Another section of the M25 in Essex had to be closed at around 9am on Thursday following a four-vehicle crash and a resulting oil spill.

Highways officers spent the morning moving debris and clearing fuel between junction 28 and 27 before the road could be reopened at midday.

It came on what is predicted to the busiest day of travel over the Easter Bank Holiday weekend, with millions of Brits heading off for the traditional springtime getaway.

More than 20 million cars are expected to hit the roads over the course of the weekend, with average speeds on the M25 predicted to plummet to just 17mph.

London's airports were also hit with major queues at passport control on Thursday morning as holidaymakers sought to escape the capital by plane.

Heathrow passengers complained of “shocking service” and “huge queues”, with some spending more than 45 minutes waiting for passport control.

Disgruntled passengers took to social media to complain and share pictures of the huge queues to get to the departures area which had already developed on Maundy Thursday.

There were reports of cars queuing for an hour in the airport’s access tunnel, with some passengers giving up and making the rest of the journey to their terminal on foot.

Passengers at Gatwick also complained of the "worst queues at passport control ever" late on Wednesday evening, while Stansted and Luton were hit with queues as well.

Network Rail has also warned passengers that engineering works taking place over the Easter weekend will cause disruption for rail passengers.

Major engineering work for the Thameslink programme will be taking place between New Cross and Charing Cross and Cannon Street between Good Friday and Easter Monday.

On Easter Sunday, there will be no Southern trains to or from London Victoria station, while Network Rail carries out maintenance on platforms 14 and 19.

Additionally, some lines between London Waterloo and Clapham Junction (including about half of Waterloo station) will be closed from Good Friday to Easter Sunday for major engineering works.

Swathes of the Underground including the Circle, District, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan lines will also be closed between Good Friday and Easter Monday.

The entire Victoria line will be shut off from 3am on Easter Sunday until the beginning of service on Tuesday.