The extent of damage caused to the M5 carriageway after a double decker bus caught fire has been shown by Highways England.
The highways agency posted shocking pictures to their Twitter account showing the blackened road.
Earlier today a double decker bus caught fire between J19 A369 Martcombe Road (Portishead) and J20 B3133 Ettlingen Way (Clevedon) while emergency services dealt with the incident.
No passengers were on board and the vehicle was on the hard shoulder at the time of the fire.
A second bus also broke down in the queue adding to delays.
Diesel spilled onto the Southbound carriageway and Highways England South West have said that a sweeper is currently in action and after it has been swept they will be able to access the condition of the road.
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Already the bus company, Stagecoach West have said they will investigate what caused the fire.
Rupert Cox, managing director at Stagecoach West, said: “One of our buses which was not in service was involved in an incident on the M5 this morning at Clevedon.
“No passengers were on board and there were no injuries. Safety is our absolute priority, and we will be investigating the cause of the incident.”
The fire has caused serious delays on the M5 today and caused considerable congestion on local roads as traffic attempts to avoid the area.
As of 3.50pm delays of half-an-hour were being reported.
Inrix, the travel monitoring site reports: "Two lanes closed and long delays due to earlier double decker bus fire and fuel spillage on M5 Southbound between J19 A369 Martcombe Road (Portishead) and J20 B3133 Ettlingen Way (Clevedon). Travel time is around 30 minutes.
"Lanes one and two (of three) remain closed, as the spillage of diesel across the road requires a sweeper. A bus had broken down in the queues, but this has since cleared."
