Video: M62 lorry inferno spells rush hour misery

Motorists faced severe traffic disruption during both morning and evening rush hours after a lorry fire closed a stretch of the M62 yesterday.
By Lindsay Pantry
Published 17th Dec 2015, 07:00 BST
Updated 17th Dec 2015, 08:00 BST
The lorry is well ablaze in an incident which closed the M62 eastbound this morning.The lorry is well ablaze in an incident which closed the M62 eastbound this morning.
The lorry is well ablaze in an incident which closed the M62 eastbound this morning.

There were long tailbacks in the morning after both carriageways were shut to deal with the blaze, which happened shortly after 6.30am.

The lorry, which is believed to have been carrying carpet underlay, caught fire between Junction 29 at M1 Lofthouse and Junction 30 at Rothwell.

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A diversion was set up by West Yorkshire Police from junction 29 on the M1 north as far as junction 44.

The westbound carriageway was opened later in the day, but the eastbound side remained closed well into the evening as work was carried out to repair the damaged road surface.

Drivers reported that journeys that would normally take ten minutes were taking more than an hour as traffic was snarled up in Leeds city centre.

The problems were exacerbated by a collision on the Leeds inner ring road at a time when the city’s roads were busy with Christmas shopping traffic and people heading to a performance by magician Dynamo at the First Direct Arena.

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokeswoman said the driver was not injured during the blaze.

VIDEO: Jamie Mitchell

Related topics:MotoristsM62DriversLeedsWest Yorkshire PoliceRothwell