A major fire involving a car transporter carrying nine electric vehicles has forced the complete closure of the M5 motorway in Devon, causing significant traffic disruption during Wednesday morning's rush hour. The blaze erupted at approximately 7am between junctions 28 at Cullompton and 29 near Exeter, prompting emergency services to shut the critical transport artery in both directions. Motorists reported being trapped in standstill traffic for hours, with some forced to cancel or postpone work commitments due to the extensive delays.

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service confirmed the transporter was "fully involved" in fire, with five fire appliances and a water bowser deployed to battle the intense blaze. Photographs and footage from the scene showed thick black smoke billowing from the incident, with fierce orange flames engulfing both the transporter and its electric vehicle cargo. One witness reported hearing explosions during the incident, though authorities have not confirmed the cause of these sounds.

National Highways, Devon and Cornwall Police, and multiple emergency services remain on scene coordinating the response. The closure has resulted in delays of approximately 30 minutes on approaches to the affected stretch of motorway. Authorities have implemented diversion routes, with southbound traffic directed to exit at junction 28 and northbound traffic at junction 29, though police are advising motorists to avoid the area entirely due to significant traffic issues.

National Highways has not provided an estimate for when the M5 will reopen to traffic. The agency advised road users to allow extra journey time and consider rerouting or delaying travel plans. The incident highlights the growing challenges of transporting electric vehicles and the potential fire risks associated with lithium-ion batteries, though the exact cause of this particular fire remains under investigation by authorities.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has announced an urgent independent inquiry into maternity services at Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, describing himself as "shocked" by families' experiences of "repeated maternity failures in Leeds - made worse by the unacceptable response of the trust." The decision comes after years of campaigning by bereaved families who reported feeling "gaslit, dismissed and even blamed" for what went wrong at one of Europe's largest teaching hospitals. Mr. Streeting emphasized the "stark contradiction between scale and safety standards" at the trust, which official data shows "remains an outlier on perinatal mortality."

The inquiry follows a June downgrade by the Care Quality Commission, which rated maternity services at the trust as "inadequate" and identified serious risks to women and babies. Inspectors highlighted a deep-rooted "blame culture" that made staff reluctant to raise concerns about incidents. Brendan Brown, chief executive of LTH NHS Trust, apologized to bereaved families and expressed hope that the inquiry would provide them with "answers." He stated the trust is "determined to do better" and is already taking significant steps to improve maternity and neonatal services following reviews by regulatory bodies.

Families affected by the failures have welcomed the inquiry but are calling for rigorous leadership, specifically requesting that midwife Donna Ockenden chair the investigation. Fiona Winser-Ramm, whose daughter Aliona died in 2020 after an inquest found multiple failures, emphasized the importance of ensuring the inquiry is "the best and most thorough that it can possibly be." She described how families have been "thrust into this life that none of us should be living," noting that their shared grief should never have brought them together under such circumstances.

Serious questions are now being raised about what Sir Julian Hartley, who led the trust for ten years until 2023 and now heads the Care Quality Commission, knew about the poor maternity care. In a statement, Sir Julian expressed being "truly sorry" for families' suffering and said that while he was "absolutely committed to ensuring good patient care across all services, including maternity," this commitment "wasn't enough to prevent some families suffering pain and loss." Lauren Caulfield, whose daughter Grace died in 2022, called it "completely unacceptable that nothing has been done to date" to examine Sir Julian's role, expressing hope that the inquiry will address this gap.