An articulated lorry full of cosmetics and perfume went up in flames on the M2 last night.

The 40ft lorry was on the London-bound carriageways between the Chatham and Strood turn-offs when other motorists altered the Polish driver that his front wheels were on fire.

The driver managed to pull the vehicle over to the hard shoulder and he and a friend managed to get out of the cab before the blaze spread.

Firefighters from Strood, Gillingham and two appliances Medway were called out to deal with the fire at about 7.45pm and when they arrived they found the cab of the lorry well alight.

The driver, who had suffered a bit of smoke inhalation, was given oxygen at the scene by a doctor who had been driving past the incident but had decided to stop to help out.

The crews, who had to use a shuttle water system to put out the fire, say they managed to save about 90 per cent of the contents of the lorry's container.

A spokesman for Kent Fire and Rescue Service, said: "We needed four appliances as there was no water source at the scene so it meant we had to send appliances to fill up with water and then shuttle it back to the scene.

"The cab of the lorry was completely destroyed and the flames did spread to the part of the container, but we managed to stop it spreading any further and saved most of the cosmetics and perfume on board.

"Luckily the doctor who had stopped spoke a bit of Dutch and so did the Polish lorry driver, so he helped us communicate with him.

"He told us his breaks had been sticking before the fire broke out and quite often with big lorries like this one, this means the break pads get really hot, so this was probably the cause of the fire.

"The Highways Agency helped close the motorway for about 10 minutes until we could cone three lanes off to deal with the blaze safely.

"There were tailbacks for other motorists for a while, but once one lane was opened, motorists were soon able drive on.

"I think in the end the doctor took the driver and his mate back home with him as they had nowhere to stay, which we thought was really nice of him.

"We left the scene at about 9.20pm."