A CAR started to roll down a motorway when it became engulfed in flames.

The three-year-old MG car caught fire when a woman in her early 20s was driving it on the M62 near Clifton at 9.15pm on Sunday.

The car had broken down about 30 minutes earlier on the M62 in Greater Manchester.

It was checked by a mechanic who got it started again and the woman continued on her way.

But she noticed smoke coming out of the back of the car as she approached Hartshead Moor service station.

She managed to steer on to the hard shoulder and got out of the car.

But it quickly became an inferno.

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman said: "The blaze burned through the handbrake cable and when the crew arrived they found the car rolling slowly back down the motorway."

The car was destroyed.

The woman, who lives in Leeds, was heading home when the fire broke out.