THIS was the dramatic moment a car was engulfed in flames after a fire took hold on a Hampshire motorway.

The driver was able to pull the vehicle over onto the hard shoulder of the M3 where the fire then engulfed the car.

As this video shows, the driver managed to escape the car and could only watch on as the vehicle was destroyed by the fire.

Eye-witness Lewis Horsley, 28, who captured the footage on a dash-cam in his car, said: “I could see the smoke from about half a mile away. All the traffic started moving over into the outside lanes when they could see that there was a fire.

“The same thing happened to my car years ago so I know what it feels like. It was completely engulfed in the flames though, the worry was it was right next to some trees.”

Emergency services were called to the incident which happened on the northbound carriageway at 8.30am this morning between junctions seven to Dummer and six to Basingstoke.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said that two appliances were called to the scene just after 8.30am this morning where they extinguished the fire that had completely destroyed the vehicle.

No one was hurt in the incident.