THE front end of a car has been destroyed in a fire on the M62 this morning.

The silver Vauxhall Vectra caught fire while travelling westbound between Junction 27 for Gildersome and Junction 26 for Chain Bair.

It had been driven into a lay-by on the motorway, and a passing motorist who saw the car said its occupants were "lucky to escape".

He said: "The front end of the car had been completely destroyed by the fire.

"The bonnet had come off and the tyres had deflated and it was resting on its alloys, it looked like the car had melted into the ground.

"The passenger shell looked undamaged, so the people in the car were lucky to escape."

The fire service were called to the blaze, along with traffic officers, shortly after 10am and two lanes were closed while the fire was dealt with.

The second lane of the motorway was reopened just before 10.30am after the fire had been extinguished, and by 10.45am all lanes were back open as normal.