NATIONAL Highways is advising drivers intending to use the M5 to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys following a lorry fire incident in Devon.

With many people travelling ahead of their Christmas celebrations, the organisation has warned that there may be extra traffic on the roads.

As well as this, the southbound carriageway was closed earlier between junctions 30 (Exeter) and 31 (Torquay, Bodmin/Okehampton) to allow police and the fire service to attend an incident involving a lorry fire.

The incident occurred on the southbound carriageway just before 10am and with the fire service tending to the hay lorry fire, the carriageway is currently reduced to a single lane, with lane four running past the scene

With emergency services still in attendance, and with the clear-up operation and vehicle recovery expected to be protracted, National Highways is advising drivers to plan ahead and allow extra time for their journeys and where possible, avoid the area and consider alternate routes.