Traffic on the Afsluitdijk was held up for several hours on Monday after a bridge failed to close.

Long queues built up on the A7 motorway that runs over the dike heading from Friesland to Noord-Holland after the bridge at Den Oever jammed at around midday. Traffic flowing in the opposite direction was unhindered.

Engineers are on the scene but it is not clear how long it will take to fix the problem. The ANWB has advised drivers heading out of Friesland to take a diversion at Joure and use the A6 and A1 instead.