A LORRY carrying 22 tonnes of canned Stella Artois lager burst into flames on the M5 motorway.

Two fire crews attended the blaze between junctions 7 and 6 northbound at around 7.20pm yesterday.

They used hose reels and foam to extinguish it. Another crew was on standby on the southbound side.

A spokesman for the fire service said many of the pressurised cans were popping because of the heat and the lorry's tires exploded.

No one was injured and no other vehicles were involved.

Highways closed off one lane of the motorway and the hard shoulder while the fire was attended to. Firefighters left the scene at 9pm.

Residents living within earshot of the M5 thought the bangs were fireworks because they were so loud while one resident said her house shook.

On the Worcester News' Facebook page, Jen Boraston said: "Two massive booms. Didn't sound much like fireworks. Too low pitched. Dogs were terrified."

While Sheryl Oakes said she was near Tesco and heard them.

Steve Hinton said he heard it while up by the hospital and Katie Parsons said she heard them while in the Berkeleys.

Helen Brighton, at Warndon Villages, said: "We heard them. Our house shook. Our neighbours heard them too."

What they said about the fire on our Facebook page.