A lorry fire brought chaos to the M74 motorway at Lockerbie yesterday morning.
The southbound carriageway was brought to a standstill when a trailer burst into flames.
The driver of the vehicle managed to bring it to a halt on the hard shoulder and detach the tractor unit away from the burning trailer.
Residents living nearby reported hearing two loud explosions at around 9.40am which were followed by thick plumes of smoke filling the sky.
Emergency services rushed to the scene to tackle the blaze.
The road was blocked off and within minutes there was a lengthy tailback on the southbound carriageway.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said: “Around 9.30am on Monday we received reports of a lorry on fire on the M74, Glasgow to Carlisle southbound, near to junction 18.
“The road was closed for around one hour with diversions in place to allow emergency services to attend. The fire has now been extinguished and the vehicle recovered.”
A spokesman for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, added: “Operations control mobilised three appliances to the scene where firefighters extinguished the fire and worked to make the area safe.”
The driver escaped injury and there were no casualties as a result of the incident.
