FIREFIGHTERS were called out to a car fire on a stretch of the M56 this morning.

Three fire crews attended the blaze close to Junction 9 at about 7.10am today (Wednesday, February 3).

On arrival crews found the saloon car well alight on the hard shoulder of the entry slip road from the northbound M6.

Firefighters blocked the hard shoulder and the first lane from traffic before Highways England arrived.

A firefighter wearing breathing apparatus used a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire and make the car safe.

Firefighters also monitored the temperature of the vehicle's engine compartment with a thermal imaging camera.

They handed the incident over to Highways England once they were satisfied that the fire was fully out and the car was safe.

Firefighters were in attendance for about 50 minutes.