Plans to close the Dartford Tunnel for repair works over the next few weeks have been shelved.

Highways England previously confirmed the main thoroughfare between Kent and Essex would shut for evening maintenance from Monday, August 16 onwards.

The East Tunnel was initially due to close Monday to Friday, for three weeks.

This was to be followed by scheduled downtime for the West Tunnel from Monday, September 6 onwards.

But the planned closures of the Dartford Tunnel during August have now been put back.

Highways England confirmed the decision today but said no date had yet been put in place for the re-arranged works to take place.

The works were due to be carried out by Connect Plus Services, which operate and maintain the M25 motorway network and its linking roads on behalf of the highways agency, as well as the Dartford Crossing.

For further information, or if you have any questions about this work, the agency is encouraging road users and residents to contact its customer contact centre on 0300 1235000, available 24-hours a day.

The Dartford Crossing connects the A282 road between Kent and Thurrock in Essex and is made up of two bored tunnels and the cable-stayed Queen Elizabeth II bridge.

It's the only fixed crossing of the Thames to the east of Greater London and is one of the busiest in the UK with up to 160,000 vehicles using it daily.

Avoid getting stuck on Kent's roads by keeping up-to-date on all of the latest traffic and travel news here or by following our live blog.

Read more: All the latest news from Dartford