A vehicle fire on the M8 near Edinburgh at around 5pm on July 24 left the westbound carriageway jammed between Hermiston Gait and Newbridge. The front of a Land Rover was engulfed in thick orange flames, and smoke was billowing from the bonnet.
M8 and Edinburgh traffic
The vehicle appears to have been moved onto the hard shoulder, but both lanes were gridlocked as far as a nearby traffic camera feed could see. That left drivers facing standstill conditions on a busy stretch of road at the height of the evening rush.
Hard shoulder at Hermiston Gait
The hard shoulder gave the driver one place to get the burning vehicle out of the flow of traffic, but it did not clear the road behind it. The westbound carriageway between Hermiston Gait and Newbridge still filled up quickly, with queues stretching back beyond what the camera could show.
Police Scotland and the Land Rover
Police Scotland had been contacted for comment, but no further detail was included in the available text. Whether anybody had been injured was not yet known, and the cause of the fire was still not stated.
