Drivers have been caught in severe traffic delays on the M25 in Hertfordshire after a lorry fire.
Part of the UK’s busiest motorway is closed anticlockwise after a truck carrying hay bales caught on fire.
The incident happened between the junctions J25 Enfield and J24 Potters Bar shortly before 6am.
Motorists now face two-hour delays in the area, with diversions put in place.
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However, the diversion route will take drivers into the ULEZ zone, National Highways warned.
It said: ‘Please note diversion has a 4.7m (14.4’) height restriction and passes through TFL ULEZ.
‘Metropolitan Police, London Fire Brigade, East of England Ambulance Service and National Highways Traffic Officers are attending.
‘Traffic within the closure is being released past the scene.’
Diversion route on the M25
Motorists should follow the hollow square symbol on local road signs to get to the diversion, although this will take them into the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ).
How to get to the diversion:
- Exit the M25 at J25
- At the roundabout, take the first exit onto the A10 southbound
- Continue on the A10 to the Great Cambridge Junction with the A406 North Circular
- Follow the A406 North Circular westbound to the junction with the A1
- Turn right on the A1 northbound
- Remain on the A1 northbound to J23 of the M25
- At the roundabout, take the first exit to re-join the M25 anti-clockwise
Traffic analyst Inrix said in an update: ‘Congestion to J27 M11, and heavy diverting down the M11 and around the North Circular.
‘After being stopped for an hour and a half, with smoke from a lorry carrying hay bales.
‘Letting some traffic past in lane four now, but it will take a long time to get moving further back.’
One frustrated motorist said on social media: ‘Avoid M25 this morning traffic at a standstill only have 10 miles to go and going to take me nearly 2 hrs.’
Elsewhere, drivers also face delays on the M25 in Surrey after a stalled car is blocking two lanes on the clockwise carriageway before J6.
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