A CAR fire closed a lane of the M65 for nearly 40 minutes this morning.

Firefighters were called to junction six, the Whitebirk Interchange, at around 9am this morning to deal with the blaze.

When crews arrived, the vehicle was well alight on the hard shoulder and a hosereel was used to extinguish the flames.

A spokesperson for the fire service said: "Firefighters from Blackburn and Hyndburn tackled a vehicle fire the M65 motorway, eastbound near to junction 6.

"The vehicle was well alight on the hard shoulder when crews arrived. One lane of the motorway was closed whilst firefighters dealt with the fire. They used hose reel to extinguish the fire and were in a attendance around 40 minutes."