Huge fire after crash causes long delays on busy motorway

The M25 is big. Seriously big. It’s one of the world’s biggest ring roads, stretching 117 miles right around London.

Packed in it are 33 junctions – but there’s even more that aren’t on the map, as drivers have discovered over the years.

Many of these hidden exits appear to be for emergency services to save time by speeding off the motorway and into hard-to-reach country roads.

If you’re chugging along J16, for example, there’s a blink and you’ll miss its hidden exit that allows ‘authorised vehicles’, such as ambulances, to access Denham Lane and Slade Oak Lane. A second secret exit – that you, alas, cannot use – is Fulber just by J16 for the M40.

There’s also the unofficial Tatling End exit by Gerrards Cross that leads into Fulmer Lane, a downtrodden country road.

Palmer’s Moor Lanes has a third exit tucked between the junctions for the M4 and M40. Some drivers have wound up there after their SatNavs were trying to get them to drive through to get onto the M25.

And there are a fair few more, as motorists have discovered over the years.