M-way shut by lorry blaze

A lorry fire belching thick black smoke closed the M62 at the Saddleworth junction yesterday lunch time.

The incident caused traffic tailbacks across Rochdale for the remainder of the afternoon and into the early evening.

The blaze in an HGV carrying rubber drain blocks happened between the on and off slip roads at Junction 22 just before noon.

Two fire engines from Greater Manchester and two from West Yorkshire had to shuttle water from Scammonden reservoir to fight the blaze, which produced large amounts of smoke that hampered visibility.

Traffic backed up beyond junction 19 at Middleton and junction 23 at Huddersfield.

It was eventually allowed to continue on the westbound carriageway by using the on and off slip roads until it reopened at 1.30 pm.

However, eastbound traffic was halted until later in the afternoon.