MOTORISTS' suffered long tailbacks this morning after a lorry spilled a load of silt at the junction of the M271 and the M27 at Nursling.

A Scania tipper truck was making its way from Southampton Docks with a load of dredging material when the back door of the truck came open and about 2.5 tonnes was shed across the road, blocking one lane of the M271.

Traffic built up and police say that at one stage queues stretched back as far as Millbrook in Southampton.

A police spokesman said the lorry belonged to a Canterbury company and a mechanical fault with the lorry is believed to have been behind the incident.

Highways Agency staff were brought in to deal with the spillage and the spilt materials were loaded onto another truck. The road wasn't fully opened until around 10.55am. The accident happened just after 8am.