These were the dramatic scenes on the M5 motorway near Burnham-On-Sea on Tuesday (September 18th) after a van blaze brought traffic to a halt.
The southbound carriageway came to a standstill at around 9.45am after the vehicle developed an electrical fault and burst into flames on the hard shoulder.
Thick smoke drifted across the carriageway, as pictured here by a Burnham-On-Sea.com reader held up in the incident.
Police said none of the occupants in the van had been hurt, but the vehicle – owned by a solar energy firm – had been damaged.