MOTORISTS suffered lengthy delays throughout Tuesday and into the night after a lorry loaded with Christmas goods caught fire on the A31 at Ringwood.

The ferocity of the blaze led to the closure of the westbound slip road from Ringwood onto the A31 where the lorry driver stopped after being warned by a motorist that his semi-trailer was on fire.

For safety’s sake, the inside lane of the westbound A31 was also closed.

The blaze, which is thought to have been caused by a flat tyre on the trailer, ripped through the load despite the best efforts of firefighters from Ringwood, Burley and Fordingbridge who were called to the scene shortly before 4am.

As well as extinguishing the flames, they had to make safe diesel spilled from the lorry’s fuel tank, before leaving at 7.23am.

But Christmas wrapping paper reignited leading to a second callout for firefighters who eventually left just before 11.40am.

All the time frustrated drivers faced delays of up to 45 minutes. Queues grew back across the New Forest towards the M27 and up the A338 towards Fordingbridge. At lunchtime the added journey time was down to 30 minutes.

A lowloader was drafted in to remove the wreckage, which had to be partly dismantled to allow it to fit under bridges.

The charred wreck was cleared by 4pm and the inside lane of the A31 re-opened to clear the traffic.

But the slip road closure remained in place because the surface had been severely damaged by the fire.

A repair team was drafted in and began replacing a section of molten carriageway in the evening, which led to the inside lane of the A31 being closed again.

A Highways Agency spokesman predicted the road would be open this morning.

The £40,000 truck and trailer operated by Holton Heath-based Eaton Transport were completely destroyed.

Company boss Andrew Trotter said the lorry was on its way from Lichfield to Holton Heath. The driver was shaken but uninjured.