BUSINESS chiefs have called for better transport links in the wake of the latest incident to bring gridlock to the county's roads.

A stretch of the M6 motorway between junctions 29 and 32 was shut in both directions for over four hours today following a major chemical explosion near Grimsargh.

The closure caused several other routes to come to a standstill. Those worst affected were the M65 which backed up and many A-roads in East Lancashire which ground to a halt because traffic had nowhere to go.

The incident follows similar closures on the motorway in April following a diesel spill and in February when a chemical tanker shed its load.

Mike Damms, chief executive of East Lancashire Chamber of Commerce said firms would have lost at least half a day's business because of the blaze.

He said: "All roads roughly speaking end up between junction 31 of the M6 and the M61/M65 interchange.

"The only way to cross the River Ribble is at junction 31, Ribchester, Penwortham and Preston City Centre.

"We would like to see more crossings across the Ribble for when things go wrong."

The incident occurred just after 6am at Veolia Cleanaway, a chemical reclamation company based at Red Scar Industrial Estate, Longridge Road, Ribbleton, Preston.

Approximately 62,000 litres of flammable waste liquid was burning at its height.

Fire crews from Blackburn and Burnley helped tackle the blaze, which produced a thick plume of toxic gas rising over the area.

It took several hours to get it under control and the motorway reopened around 11am. Investigations are ongoing in to what started the blaze.

Residents nearby said they feared the worst.

Linda Grimbaldeston, 55, of Yew Tree Avenue, said: "I thought it was a terrorist bombing, I thought they might have been bombing the railway station or even the motorway.

"It woke me up about six-ish and there was just a series of loud bangs. There was a lot of them so I knew they couldn't be bombs.

"There was black smoke rising from the estate and I was very scared."

David Burscough, 64, who lives on the same road, said: "I initially thought it was cars crashing on the motorway just at the back of the house.

"I then thought it might have been a chemical tanker but I could see from the back bedroom that smoke was rising above the estate.

"I turned on the television and saw it was a chemical fire and made sure all my windows were closed."