BIRMINGHAM - More than 200 families were evacuated from their homes early this morning after police closed the M6 at Spaghetti Junction near Birmingham following the discovery of two suspect vehicles.
Both the north and southbound carriageways of the motorway between junctions four and seven, as well as the A38M Aston Expressway, were closed just before 9 p.m.
West Midlands Police said a car was parked in suspicious circumstances on the hard shoulder of the motorway near Spaghetti Junction and an articulated lorry was parked under the junction on the A38.
After checks by West Midlands firearms and explosives officers and an army bomb disposal unit, the car was later declared safe and moved. But the lorry was still causing concern and the army asked for people in homes and businesses in the surrounding area to be removed.
A police spokeswoman said an extra 60 officers had been called in to carry out the evacuation.