A CRASH involving a lorry carrying a dangerous chemical and three other vehicles caused chaos on the M25.

The road was closed anti-clockwise at 9.50am on Thursday, between junction 30 for Lakeside and junction 29 for Basildon, whilst fire-fighters used special breathing equpiment to ensure the lorry’s potentially dangerous load was not leaking.

The chemical was Cyclpoentanona Trimetil Pentil, a flammable substance, harmful if swallowed, inhaled or if it comes into contact with the skin.

Six fire crews attended the smash which involved another lorry and two other vehicles but there were no injuries and the road re-opened at 12.15.

Assistant Divisional Officer Greg Keys said: "The drums of chemicals had not been damaged and none of the chemical had spilled.

"However the trailer of one of the trucks was in a precarious position so we used one set of hydraulic cutting equipment and one pertrogen cutter to cut the trailer off the truck.”