Huge fire breaks out on London’s busiest motorway

Fire crews tackled a blaze on the M25. All the latest London transport news.

Transcript

00:00Hello and welcome to your latest London Transport Roundup.

00:06Major disruption hit the M25 following a massive lorry fire which could be seen for miles around the motorway.

00:16Emergency services were called at 12pm on Wednesday the 13th of August to report of a vehicle fire on the M25.

00:25The carriageway was shut in both directions between junction 31 at Thurrock and junction 29 for the A127.

00:37Spokesperson from the fire service said that they had to deal with a lorry on fire on the M25 clockwise between junctions 29 and 30

00:49and that crews from Greys and Basildon, Brentwood and colleagues from the London Fire Brigade

00:56as well as the Kent Fire and Rescue Service were all in attendance to try and tackle the issue.

01:03They explained that the lorry was carrying tyres which were alight and producing a large amount of smoke.

01:11They had to urge people to avoid the area if possible and take extra care if near the scene on the motorway.

01:19Essex police then confirmed that no one had been injured in the fire and that no arrests had been made either

01:27adding that the suspected cause of the blaze was believed to have been due to a vehicle malfunction.

01:36Complaints about London buses being too hot have reached their highest level on record.

01:43There had already been 276 complaints this year, up 155 from the previous year and 149 in 2023,

01:56according to figures released under the Freedom of Information Act.

02:02Transport for London, which only kept the figures for three years,

02:05said that the data should be viewed within context of 1.8 billion bus journeys made in London each year.

02:17And London's Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has now faced calls to reveal the issue

02:21that has delayed the rollout of new Piccadilly Line trains.

02:26The Conservative member of the London Assembly, Keith Prince, said that there needed to be more transparency

02:33about potentially safety-critical issues that have delayed the trains by about a year.

02:40Sir Sadiq Khan had told the Assembly that the process was taking longer than expected

02:45due to challenges within the design, the build and the commissioning.

02:49The 94-strong fleet had been scheduled to enter service this year,

02:53but that has been pushed back to the second half of 2026.