UPDATED 6.30pm: Traffic chaos after lorry fire on M1

MOTORISTS travelling along the M1 have been caught in massive tailbacks after a lorry caught fire in the hard shoulder of the motorway.

Fire crews from Long Eaton, Ilkeston and Loughborough were called to the blaze, on the southbound carriageway between junctions 24a and 25 at Sandiacre.

It is not yet known whether the driver of the lorry was injured in the blaze, which started at about 5.15pm.

The southbound carriageway of the M1 between the two junctions has been completely closed and a diversion set up to take motorists along the A52, A5111, A6, A5 and back to the M1 at junction 24.

The blaze also forced the Highways Agency to shut two lanes of the northbound carriageway after flames spread to wooden fencing in the central reservation.

Those lanes have now been reopened, although a spokesman for the Highways Agency said it was unclear how long the southbound stretch would be shut for.

More details on this story will follow.