This is the reason why motorists faced long delays at this busy M55 junction

Highways England placed an emergency lane closure on the M55 slip road on Sunday in order for trees to be pruned. The result has caused long delays for motorists during peak traffic times.

Due to the lane closure, part of the A585 near Greenhalgh also has a lane closure in place which caused delays of nearly 30 minutes for motorists this morning backing up to the Windy Harbour junction.

A spokesman for Traffic England: "The emergency roadworks were put in place in order for pruning work to be carried out on trees and bushes which were encroaching onto the highway. The overgrowth will have been inspected and deemed an emergency in order to be removed."

The spokesman also advised the work will be finished by 9pm this evening, a day ahead of schedule.

The part-time signals at the Wesham circle, designed to control traffic flow, were not activated during the rush hour traffic.