M42 reopens after emergency closure following lorry fire

A key Midlands motorway has reopened nearly 24 hours after a lorry fire. The M42's southbound carriageway was closed between junction 10 for Tamworth and junction 9 for Curdworth and Sutton Coldfield after a lorry caught fire. The fire was first reported at around 1.40pm on Wednesday, June 26.

Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service attended the scene alongside National Highways officials, who helped to remove a load of cardboard from the remains of the lorry. Crews also dampened down the lorry before it could be taken away.

As a result of the major incident, the M42 southbound was closed well into Thursday afternoon to resurface the carriageway. National Highways revealed how the operation to remove the load from the vehicle was slow as pallets of cardboard would reignite when moved.

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Despite the use of four grab wagons, the removal work took until around 5am. It was then clear that the entire width of the carriageway needed to be resurfaced before it could safely reopen.

Live traffic system INRIX confirmed that just after 12:20pm the works were complete and the road had been resurfaced. M42 motorists can now access the whole stretch of the motorway, which has fully reopened.

An update from INRIX read: "M42 Southbound re-opened, traffic returned to normal, emergency repairs earlier between J10 A5 Watling Street ( Tamworth ) and J9 A4097 Kingsbury Road (Curdworth / Coleshill).The road was closed since yesterday afternoon for resurfacing works following a lorry fire. Restrictions were lifted prior to 12:20."