UPDATE: One lane opens after major M6 lorry fire

Lancashire fire and rescue service requested the closure of all three lanes between J34 Lancaster and J33 Galgate on the Southbound carriageway just before 11.09am for safety reasons.

But now Highways England say the third lane has re-opened.

Lancashire police say they believe nobody has been injured and that the lorry - that is believed to have been transporting shortbread biscuits - has been moved to the hard shoulder.

Lancashire police’s road policing unit earlier urged people to avoid the area and said that there was also heavy congestion on the opposite northbound carriageway

A spokesman for Lancashire fire and rescue service said: “At 10.54, two fire engines from Lancaster were called to the M6 southbound after it was reported by the driver of an articulated lorry that there was a fuel spillage which had caught fire in lanes one and two.

“When firefighters arrived at the scene, they immediately requested a full closure of the southbound motorway for safety reasons and they started to tackle the fire using four firefighters in breathing apparatus and two hose reels.

“By 11.30am another three fire engines from Carnforth, Morecambe and Garstang were mobilised to the scene and firefighters remain at the scene.

“This is an ongoing incident.”