LIVE M61 updates: All traffic STOPPED amid 'police-led incident'

Huge queues are building on a stretch of the M61 this morning amid a 'police-led incident'.

All traffic has been stopped on the southbound side of the motorway while officers respond. Traffic is stopped between junction eight for Chorley and junction six for Horwich.

Motorway cameras show long queues building up to the closure. A tweet posted by National Highways said: "Traffic has temporarily stopped on the #M61 southbound between J8 (#Chorley) and J6 (#Middlebrook) due to a police-led incident.

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"@LancsPolice are currently working on scene. There are delays of at least 25 minutes on approach."

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Delays have now cleared on the M61.

We will end our live coverage here.

All traffic has been released on both sides of the M61.

Delays of around 30 minutes remain.

"We're ready to release traffic but this is being delayed by a large number of people out of their vehicles walking around the carriageway."

"We'll update when the road reopens - thank you for your patience."

Traffic is still being held on both sides of the M61.

Highways officers said they are 'unsure' when traffic will be released 'due to the nature of the incident'.

We have asked Lancashire Police for information on the nature of this incident.

As soon as we know more, we will update this live blog.

Traffic has been stopped on both sides of the M61.

There are delays of at least 30 minutes in both directions.

There are huge queues near the services on the motorway.

Traffic has been stopped