A MOTORIST who witnessed a lorry containing hundreds of bottles of wine burst into flames took dramatic pictures of the scene.

The HGV caught fire on the slip road between the A406 north circular and the Billet Roundabout in Walthamstow at 1.20pm yesterday.

The Guardian has now received close-up snaps of the scene, taken by Wendy Douglas, of Hylands Road, Walthamstow, who was in her car when the lorry was ablaze.

The driver managed to escape the lorry unharmed, and although an ambulance was sent to the scene, nobody required treatment.

The slip road, and for a while the north circular itself, was closed in a westbound direction following the blaze.

This meant surrounding areas, particularly Highams Park were gridlocked for a couple of hours as motorists took alternative routes.