The pothole developed in heavy rain at junction 9 in Surrey after concrete repairs being carried out overnight failed to set.

One motorway lane wide, 16ft long and 11.8in deep, the pothole led to three lanes of the M25 being closed anti-clockwise between junction 10 south west of Cobham and junction 9 at Leatherhead.

Commuters endured long tailbacks and delays while some drivers caught in the hold-ups missed flights at nearby Gatwick Airport.

The Highways Agency had planned to reopen the three closed lanes on Friday night but material to fill the pothole had not hardened as expected so the road remained closed until it was deemed safe to carry traffic just before 5am on Saturday.
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Before the closure, car tyres were shredded by the road while drivers caught up in the hold-ups missed flights at nearby Gatwick airport.

A spokesman for the Highways Agency said it had launched an investigation into whether the weather had caused the road surface to collapse.

The spokesman said: "We have launched an investigation to find out how this took place.

"Workmen have had to dig up the road again and reconcrete it."

Edmund King, the AA president, described the M25 as the "road to hell" as a result of the closures.

"The M25 is critical to the nation and this incident hAighlights just how dependent we are on it to function 24/7," he said.