Lion bar lorry engulfed by flames on A2

By Gwen Ridler

- Last updated on GMT

A lorry carrying 25t of Lion chocolate bars caught fire on the A2. Image courtesy of Highways England
A lorry carrying 25t of Lion chocolate bars caught fire on the A2. Image courtesy of Highways England
A lorry transporting 25t of Lion chocolate bars was engulfed by flames yesterday (July 20), causing hours of delays for motorists heading to London.

The lorry caught fire on the A2 near the Bluewater retail park shortly after 3am, shutting down two of the four London-bound lanes.

Three fire engines from the Kent Fire and Rescue Service attended the blaze, where the trailer was already well alight.

Fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus used a high-pressure hose reel jet with compressed air foam to combat the flames, which was concentrated in the cab of the lorry.

Crews removed the sides and roof of the vehicle to extinguish the fire and worked with Kent Highways to manually move the contents of the trailer.

lion fire 2

Extinguish the fire

The link road from the A2 westbound to the M25 junction 2 anti-clockwise was closed for most of the day to facilitate further recovery operations. All other lanes on the main carriageway have since reopened.

A Nestlé spokeswoman told FoodManufacture.co.uk: “We can confirm that the lorry which caught fire on the A2 this morning was carrying Nestlé Lion Bars.  

“Thankfully, the driver has not suffered any injuries. We have now launched an investigation to understand the cause of the fire.”

Nestlé did not own the lorry.

Twitter user Iwona posted a short video of fire fighters extinguishing the burning lorry (see below).

Meanwhile, in January, an overturned tanker caused traffic chaos in Wales,​ after it spilled its load of palm oil on to the road’s surface.

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