M3 vehicle fire LIVE: Major UK motorway shuts with commuters warned of hours of delays

Motorists are facing travel chaos on a busy motorway this morning following a vehicle fire. Commuters have been warned it will be hours until things are back to normal on the M3 eastbound between junctions J4 and J3. The motorway is closed in Surrey and normal traffic conditions are not expected before 10am

10:06Emma O'Neill

Image shows smoke rising in distance

09:33Emma O'Neill

Delay in clearing incident

National Highways now say the incident may not be cleared until around 1pm.

They said: "The event is expected to clear between 13:00 and 13:15 on 14 January 2026. "Normal traffic conditions are expected between 14:00 and 14:15."

09:03Emma O'Neill

'Slow progress'

In an update, the National Highways said: "Caught within the M3 east closure near Farnborough/Woking? "We're in the process of turning traffic and releasing it via J4.

This can be a slow process due to the volume of traffic. Thank you in advance for your patience."

08:24Sam Elliott-Gibbs

Lorry fire re-ignites

National Highways has given more detail about the scene. Traffic was initially held whilst firefighters worked to tackle the fire, with the blaze initially being contained within the trailer.

Plans were being made to release traffic with lane closures in place when the fire re-ignited, at this point a decision was made to install a full closure. It is unclear when the road will re-open

08:05Sam Elliott-Gibbs

Where the traffic is being held

The M3 eastbound between J4 Farnborough and J3 Woking is now closed. Google Maps shows what a wide strech of the road is being affected.

Between Bagshot and Camberley the eastbund carriage is marked as closed. The disruption is causing slow moving traffic down the motorway.

The M3 closure07:57Sam Elliott-Gibbs

What caused the closure?

A large lorry caught fire whilst travelling on the M3 just before 7am this morning. Emergency services rushed to the scene and continue to work to put out the blaze.

Surrey Police are in attendance and a diversion route has been put in place. There are still long delays on the motorway

07:49Sam Elliott-Gibbs

National Highways latest

In a post on X, National Highways has updated travellers this morning.

Traffic is held on the #M3[1] eastbound between J4 #Farnborough[2] & J3 #Woking[3] to allow @SurreyFRS[4] to respond to a lorry fire Our #TrafficOfficers[5] are on scene providing traffic management

Delays of up to 60 minutes on approach pic.twitter.com/2DNuKbtWLd[6]

-- National Highways: South-East (@HighwaysSEAST) January 14, 2026[7]

References

1. ^ #M3 (twitter.com)
2. ^ #Farnborough (twitter.com)
3. ^ #Woking (twitter.com)
4. ^ @SurreyFRS (twitter.com)
5. ^ #TrafficOfficers (twitter.com)
6. ^ pic.twitter.com/2DNuKbtWLd (t.co)
7. ^ January 14, 2026 (twitter.com)