A3024 shut in Bursledon as lorry spills milk bottles Published duration 4 February 2016

image copyright HFRS image caption The lorry lost its load of milk bottles just before 03:40 GMT

A spillage of milk bottles led to the closure of a section of one of the major routes into Southampton city centre.

Hampshire fire service said about 1,000 litres of milk came off the lorry on the A3024 at Bursledon.

The service said it had sent its Hazard Area Response Team to the scene to prevent the milk from getting into nearby watercourses.

The road has since reopened between the Windhover Roundabout and the B3033.

Drains were blocked to contain the milk on the road and vacuum tankers were used to remove the milk from ditches to stop it getting into the watercourse.

Mike O'Neill, from the Environment Agency said: "Milk has a big environmental impact because its so high in nutrients.

"Bugs in the water use the oxygen to break those down and then there's no oxygen for the fish.

"If the milk had got into the river, it would have been a really significant incident."

The driver of the 44-tonne lorry is not believed to be injured.

image copyright Romsey Fire Station image caption About 5,000 bottles of milk are thought to have come off the lorry

image copyright Romsey Fire Service image caption Firefighters were sent to clear the large spillage of milk which is hazardous to nature as it removes oxygen from water

image caption A huge clean-up operation got under way following the spillage