M42 crash J3–J2 southbound

Crash on the M42 southbound at J3–J2 on Tuesday 20 October 2026, from 07:01. Still reported at 09:55 UK time. Timeline of reports from TomTom and the motorway signs.

Status

Live since 07:01 (2 h 55 min)

Location

M42 southbound · J3–J2

Reported as

Collision

Delay

~15 min

At its worst

Road closed · stationary traffic · delay ~186 min

Sources

TomTom ×12 · Motorway signs ×4

Timeline

1. 07:01 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Queuing traffic”, delay ~7 min
2. 07:05 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Slow traffic”, delay ~8 min
3. 07:33 TomTom: “Queuing traffic”
4. 07:37 TomTom: “Slow traffic”
5. 07:46 TomTom: “Queuing traffic”
6. 07:46 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Slow traffic”, delay ~4 min
7. 07:55 TomTom: delay now ~29 min (was ~4)
8. 07:56 Motorway signs: “COLLISION SLOW DOWN”
9. 08:00 TomTom: collision, “Stationary traffic, Incident”, delay ~27 min
10. 08:04 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Slow traffic”, delay ~7 min
11. 08:05 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Stationary traffic”, delay ~16 min
12. 08:05 TomTom: delay now ~37 min (was ~27)
13. 08:05 TomTom: delay now ~5 min (was ~19), “Slow traffic”
14. 08:05 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Slow traffic”, delay ~3 min
15. 08:09 TomTom: delay now ~17 min (was ~7)
16. 08:09 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Stationary traffic”, delay ~19 min
17. 08:18 TomTom: road closed
18. 08:23 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Stationary traffic”, delay ~26 min (reported again)
19. 08:27 TomTom: delay now ~11 min (was ~16)
20. 08:37 TomTom: delay now ~39 min (was ~24)
21. 08:41 TomTom: delay now ~58 min (was ~39)
22. 08:54 TomTom: “Queuing traffic”
23. 08:55 TomTom: delay now ~88 min (was ~59)
24. 09:00 Motorway signs: “REPORT OF COLLISION”
25. 09:09 TomTom: delay now ~182 min (was ~112)
26. 09:09 TomTom: “Slow traffic”
27. 09:14 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Stationary traffic”, delay ~9 min
28. 09:14 Motorway signs: “COLLISION SLOW DOWN”
29. 09:15 Motorway signs no longer show “COLLISION SLOW DOWN”
30. 09:19 TomTom: “Queuing traffic”
31. 09:19 TomTom: road closed (reported again)
32. 09:19 TomTom: delay now ~50 min (was ~186)
33. 09:23 TomTom: delay now ~19 min (was ~13)
34. 09:23 TomTom: delay now ~4 min (was ~9), “Slow traffic”
35. 09:23 TomTom: queueing traffic, “Stationary traffic”, delay ~181 min
36. 09:28 TomTom: delay now ~126 min (was ~181)
37. 09:34 Motorway signs: “STRANDED VEHICLE-SLOW”
38. 09:36 TomTom: delay now ~62 min (was ~108)
39. 09:41 TomTom: obstruction or hazard, “Heavy rain, Heavy traffic”, delay ~1 min
40. 09:45 Motorway signs no longer show “REPORT OF COLLISION”
41. 09:45 TomTom: delay now ~27 min (was ~47)
42. 09:50 TomTom: delay now ~18 min (was ~27)
43. 09:54 TomTom: delay now ~11 min (was ~18)

Source reports

• Queuing traffic
• Slow traffic
• Stationary traffic
• Overhead signs read “COLLISION SLOW DOWN” (4 signs; furthest along: M42 southbound between J3 and J2).
• Closed
• Overhead signs read “REPORT OF COLLISION” (9 signs; furthest along: M42 southbound between J2 and J1).
• Heavy rain, Heavy traffic
• Overhead signs read “STRANDED VEHICLE-SLOW” (3 signs; furthest along: M42 southbound between J3A and J3).
• Overhead signs read “COLLISION SLOW DOWN” (2 signs; furthest along: M42 southbound between J2 and J1).

Other recent incidents on the M42

• M42 stopped traffic J10–J906:42 · cleared after 2 h 22 min
• M42 crash J10–J9 southboundyesterday 06:23 · cleared after 3 h 5 min
• M42 reported crash J4A northboundSun 16:19 · cleared after 2 h 17 min
• M42 delays J2–J3Fri 15:53 · cleared after 2 h 31 min
• M42 crash J10 northboundFri 15:48 · cleared after 4 h 7 min
• M42 reported crash J3A northboundFri 08:11 · cleared after 39 min
• M42 crash J4A southboundThu 23:58 · cleared after 50 min
• M42 delays J6Thu 13:59 · cleared after 4 h 46 min
• M42 stopped traffic J7A–J814 Oct 2026 07:30 · cleared after 3 h 36 min
• M42 crash J3A northbound14 Oct 2026 07:27 · cleared after 2 h 26 min

The sources don't report causes or injuries, so neither does this page. Times are UK time. For alerts, follow @motorways.me on Bluesky.