Commuter chaos as lorry fire completely closes M62

Severe traffic disruption struck the Yorkshire roads this morning after the M62 was closed in both directions due to a lorry fire.
The lorry was ablaze in an incident which closed the M62 eastbound this morning.The lorry was ablaze in an incident which closed the M62 eastbound this morning.
The lorry was ablaze in an incident which closed the M62 eastbound this morning.

The incident occured between Junction 29 (M1 Lofthouse) and Junction 30 (A642 Rothwell) and left many drivers stuck in the morning rush hour with queues tracking back to Junction 26.

There was also a knock-on effect of queuing traffic on the M62 westbound between Junction 32, (A639 Pontefract) and Junction 29 (M1 Lofthouse), because of people slowing down to look at the incident. The motorway was closed in both directions for some time, but the Westbound lane did reopen around 9am.

Police set up a diversion from junction 29 on to the M1 north as far as junction 44, then following the A639 to its roundabout with the A642.