M1 grinds to halt due to huge lorry fire with drivers warned of hour delay and six miles of congestion

Motorists faced hours of disruption on the M1 earlier today after a lorry became engulfed in flames.

Drivers were held up by lane closures, with the southbound carriageway ground to halt between Junction 15 near Northampton and Junction 14 at Milton Keynes from 10.30am until shortly after 2pm.

National highways released an image showing the flaming lorry pulled over on the hard shoulder while fire fighters off the blaze.

All four lanes were initially closed to combat the fire and allow a crane to get to the scene. Eventually, the lane slowly reopened one by one.

National Highways East posted on X at 10.52am: "Traffic has now been STOPPED on the #M1 southbound between J15 (#Northampton) and J14 (#MiltonKeynes) due to a lorry fire.

"Emergency services are now on scene working to extinguish the fire.

"Please consider alternative routes this morning."

Closures remained in place for three hours until all lanes reopened shortly after 2pm.

At 2.10pm, the service added an update: "All lanes are now OPEN on the #M1 southbound between J15 (#Northampton) and J14 (#MiltonKeynes).

"The emergency area the lorry was in will remain closed until the fire damaged surface can be repaired.

"Plan extra journey time whilst traffic flow returns to normal."