A pair of iconic cooling towers which stood next to the M1 motorway and marked the start of the north of England for many drivers have been demolished.

The 250ft high Tinsley Towers were brought down in a controlled explosion after the motorway was closed to traffic.

The towers stood just 17m from the southbound carriageway of the motorway as it crosses the double-decker Tinsley Viaduct near Sheffield, South Yorkshire.

The destruction did not initially appear to go as planned, when roughly a third of the North Tower was left standing after they were both blown up at 3am.

But a spokeswoman for owner E.ON said that both towers had been fully demolished by 5.20am.

A section of the M1 remained closed for structural engineers to ensure it was not damaged by the operation.

E.ON spokeswoman Emily Highmore said: "The towers are completely down now and the demolition has been carried out as planned. The site is now completely safe.

One tower came down completely as expected and then there was about one third of the other one left standing, but angled away from the viaduct, as the demolition experts designed it to.

"People were looking at it saying are we supposed to be able to see it, but the demolition crew went to the site and manipulated what remained so that it has now completely come down."

Thousands of onlookers stayed through the night to watch the explosions from nearby Kimberworth Hill.