Lorry carrying bales of hay bursts into flames bringing motorway to halt

Traffic on the M4 has ground to a halt after a lorry burst into flames.

Firefighters rushed to put out the blaze on the farmer’s HGV carrying bales of hay on the busy motorway near Swindon.

The driver managed to pull over to the hard shoulder when they noticed the contents had ignited.

Traffic on all lanes between junction 15 and 16 was stopped as they fought to contain the blaze from spreading to the embankment.

There are no reports of any injuries but drivers have been warned of severe delays as firefighters douse the burning trailer.

A spokesperson added: ‘The M4 is currently closed westbound between J15 and J16 while we deal with a fire involving a trailer of hay.’

Plumes of smoke were seen off the M5 near Quinton, Birmingham when the embankment caught fire.

Traffic is being stopped there after flames took hold on the edge of the M5 between junctions 3 and 4.

It came after a wildfire in London stopped rail services to Stansted Airport yesterday afternoon.

At least 50 people reported the grass fire breaking out on the side of the tracks at around 2pm on Sunday.

At the height of the blaze, around 14 hectares of field – about the size of 20 football pitches – were burning next to the River Lea.

Metro saw the aftermath of the blaze, which is still smouldering almost 24 hours after it started, and spoke to residents in the area.

Melanie Tozer, whose home is almost a mile away from the site of the fire, told us: ‘There was ash falling on our road and we found out on our local WhatsApp group that there had been a big fire stopping the trains.

‘We thought there might be evacuations. We have seen the fires on TV in Greece or Spain but you never expect it to come this close to home.’

A mother of three said: ‘I had a bag packed. I wasn’t taking any chances. There is a lot of green space around here, which is why we moved here, but this is very scary.’