M62 fire cost '£1m a minute'

Oct 15 2008 by Andrew Hirst, Huddersfield Daily Examiner

THE LORRY blaze that shut a main Yorkshire motorway for a couple of hours cost the economy millions of pounds.

The M62 westbound was closed between Brighouse to Ainley Top from 7.20am to shortly after 9am yesterday and three of the four lanes in the other direction were also shut.

The lorry was loaded with bleach and aerosols which exploded in the searing heat.

The westbound lanes were slowly reopened during the morning with one lane running from 9.10am, two from 9.40am and the final two at 1pm.

Business experts reckon that closing the motorway and the chaos it causes with queuing traffic and roads around clogged up costs the economy £1m a minute.