A plastic arm brought "chaos" to the M62 after drivers mistakenly reported it, thinking it was a human limb.

Officers closed the westbound side and the slip road by junction 6 at Tarbock Island, Merseyside, while they hunted for the "severed arm".

They opened the road a few hours later, at 1630 BST, after receiving a call from two council workers who had spotted the forearm and removed it.

Police said it had caused "traffic chaos and a huge expense".

The two council workers then took the arm to a local police station.

'Upsetting for drivers'

Det Insp Tom Keaton said: "This was treated as a major investigation that tied up large amounts of resources and impacted on all areas of policing response in Knowsley.

"We don't know how this plastic arm came to be in the middle of the road, whether it was placed there deliberately or whether it had fallen out of the window of a passing vehicle.

"However, Merseyside Police put a lot of resources into this incident and not only has it caused expense both in terms of time and money it was also extremely upsetting for the drivers who saw the plastic arm in the road.

"We would like to thank the public for their patience and understanding while this enforced road closure was in place."