Happy Birthday M25: Top 25 Facts About The Infamous Motorway

The M25 motorway, which is jokingly referred to as "the world's biggest car park", turns 25 this weekend.

Whether you love it or hate it, many people would be lost without it. To celebrate its birthday, here are 25 facts about the M25 on its 25<sup>th Birthday:

1) The M25 took more than 11 years to complete, at a total cost of nearly £1billion ‎

2) When it was built it was the world's biggest ring road/city bypass at 117 miles. It is now the second biggest behind the Berlin Ring (A10), at 121 miles.

3) If you drove at 70mph, it would take an hour and 40 minutes to complete a full lap of the route.

4) The question most frequently asked by motorists on its online route planner is: "How can I avoid the M25?" According to the AA.

5) The M25 doesn't complete a full circle. At the Dartford Crossing the road briefly becomes the A282.

6) It also doesn't completely enclose Greater London. North Ockendon lies outside the M25.

7) More than two million tons of concrete and 3.5million tons of asphalt were used to build it.

8) The first breakdown occurred at 11.16am on October 29 1986, just a matter of hours after then Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher declared it open.

9) The song 'Road to Hell' by Chris Rea was inspired by the frustrations of driving on the M25 during rush hour.

10) There were a total of 454 accidents on the M25 during its first year.

11) There are only three service stations along the whole length of the motorway - Thurrock, South Mimms and Clacket Lane.

12) The same company that completed the final length of the M25 in 1986, Balfour Beatty, also built the first section of the M25 in 1975.

13) One stretch of the M25 is twelve lanes wide.

14) The highest speed recorded by police on the M25 was 147mph, by Leslie Coe, in a Porsche 911 in 1992. He lost his licence.

15) Chris and Sue Glazier, of Ashford, Kent, chose to spend their wedding night driving the M25.

16) Iain Sinclair write a book called 'London Orbital' about the time he spent an entire year walking around the M25.

17) The dance band Orbital were named after the 'Orbital Motorway', a popular route taken to illegal raves in the 80s and 90s.

18) The motorway was designed with a capacity of 100,000 vehicles per day. Almost double that figure now use it daily.

19) A report this year revealed that roadworks had caused 118 years of hold-ups in 18 months between junctions 16 and 23 alone.

20) The longest traffic jam recorded was 37 miles on December 6, 1995.

21) In 1998 William Allen, 84, spent two days trying to find the right turn off for his daughter's house on the M25.

22) It has 10,606 lights and 2,959 illuminated signs along its length.

23) Explorers Alastair Humphreys and Rob Lilwall spent eight days walking the entire M25 route last year. Fans followed their progress via Twitter, with many locals offering beds for the night.

24) Police once rescued an elderly lady cycling the wrong way in the slow lane at Godstone, Surrey.

25) It's route passes through six police areas: Metropolitan Police, Thames Valley, Kent, Essex, Surrey and Herfordshire forces.