Lorraine Kelly misses ITV show after M40 chaos leaves her stuck in traffic

Lorraine Kelly was forced to miss her ITV show after motorway chaos left her stuck in traffic for 90 minutes.

The presenter, 66, failed to reach the studio in time for Monday’s live broadcast after an accident shut the M40.

Kelly broke the news to viewers from the back of her car, admitting she had virtually no chance of making it to work.

“I’ve been stuck in traffic for about an hour and a half trying to get into work,” she said.

“I think there’s been a wee accident and I’m hoping that everybody is OK. It’s starting to move now, but I don’t think I’m going to make it.”

She later said the nightmare journey had turned one of her biggest fears into reality.

“I’ve actually had genuine nightmares about not being able to get to my work. Today it was true,” she wrote on Instagram.

“Sadly an accident on M40 shut the motorway and I was stuck for an hour and a half.”

Christine Lampard was drafted in at the last minute, opening the programme with the words: “I am not Lorraine!”

She later spoke to Kelly by phone, with the Scottish presenter saying there had been nothing she could do once trapped in the traffic.

“You can’t go forwards, you can’t go backwards, you can’t do anything,” Kelly said.

“You just sit there and hope for the best. It’s a bit like my worst ever stress dream where you can’t get to work.”

Kelly promised she would be back on Tuesday, joking: “Whether I have to walk or trudge… anything!”

It is the second time in less than a week that Lorraine has suffered major disruption.

Last Wednesday, the show was pulled from ITV’s live schedule after a power cut hit its Covent Garden studios, also affecting This Morning and Loose Women.

Kelly has hosted Lorraine since 2010. ITV announced earlier this year that the programme would be reduced from an hour to 30 minutes and broadcast for 30 weeks of the year from 2026.