The weekend closure of the M2 is causing more traffic delays today, with crashes adding to the chaos.

The London-bound carriageway of the motorway was closed on Friday night at 8pm between junction 7 for Faversham and junction 5 for Sittingbourne.

It is expected to remain shut until 6am on Monday morning, according to National Highways, as planned resurfacing works are carried out.

The official 70-mile diversion put in place tells motorists to go via the A2 coastbound, A20 Londonbound, M20 and A249 – a route of 69.5 miles taking around one hour and 20 minutes.

Today (Sunday), the closure is causing congestion on the A249 Southbound heading towards Stockbury Roundabout and the A2 Boughton Bypass heading toward Faversham, as well as routes around Sittingbourne, Newington and Rainham.

And accidents are adding to the problems.

There are reports of very slow traffic at Boughton-under-Blean due to a crash between a car and a lorry involved on A2 London bound from Gate Services to Nine Ash Lane.

Meanwhile, Sheppey Way, in Bobbing, Sittingbourne, is currently blocked in both directions due to an accident near the services turn off.

It follows gridlock on roads leading to the motorway on Saturday, with one motorist saying it took two hours to travel from Canterbury to Rochester.

Another reported it taking two hours to get from Herne Bay to Faversham.

One woman tweeted to say she'd been stuck at Brenley Corner for four hours with two babies in the car. Others in Canterbury said they'd been stuck for a similar amount of time.

Traffic was queuing on the A2 on approach to Brenley Corner, from both directions, and there was also congestion on the A249 southbound, towards Stockbury at junction 5 of the M2. At 7pm, there were eight-mile queues from Brenley Corner, stretching back to Dunkirk.

At 3pm, Matthew Arnold, comercial director for Stagecoach South East, tweeted: "More @HighwaysSEAST inspired nonsense this weekend with a full westbound closure of the #M2 J5-7 on top of the long term eastbound slip closures at J5. Faversham & Canterbury gridlocked.

"Is anyone ever going to take this seriously? #kentroadschaos"

There were two-mile queues on the A299 Thanet Way back to the Fostall turn off.

The A2 junction with Nine Ash Lane was also affected.

Kings Ferry cancelled its 10pm and 11pm University of Kent shuttle buses between Canterbury and Medway owing to the "severe" delays.

The 2pm service was still stuck in traffic at 6pm, forcing the company to send a second coach.

At Boughton-under-Blean, video footage captured a car appearing to reverse back along the A-road due to the congestion.

Several people took to social media to criticise highways bosses for not better advertising the closures, saying they would not have made the journey if they had known.

The disruption coincided with rail strikes meaning no Southeastern trains were running in Kent on Saturday. The service has resumed today, with the London Marathon taking place.

The National Higways website says: "The M2 London-bound will be closed between junctions 7 and 5 from 8pm Friday 30 September to 6am Monday 3 October 2022.

"We’ll doing the final phase of our work to the bridges that carry Stuppington Road, Wells Lane and Hunt Kennels over the M2. This work is critical to maintaining and improving safety.

"A signed diversion route will be in place via the A2, A20, M20 and A229. All traffic for the port of Dover will be diverted to join the M20/A20."