A BUSY motorway junction near Bromsgrove was closed for hours today (January 20) when a crane caught fire on it.

The incident happened at around 11.50am on the M5 northbound between junctions 5 and 4A.

A 130 ton mobile crane was travelling along the motorway when the fire started.

Crews from Bromsgrove, Redditch and Droitwich were called to the scene and Highways England closed the road immediately to enable them to deal with it.

One lane was reopened a short time later but the incident resulted in huge delays for motorists. It was reopened a short time ago and traffic is starting to ease.

Firefighters praised the crane crew for extinguishing the fire before they got there.