MORE than 50 firefighters battled a blaze at a motorway services in Hampshire.

Crews from across Hampshire and Surrey were called to the fire at Fleet services.

The fire started in a restaurant area of the services last night and continued until the early hours of this morning.

Firefighters battled to stop the fire spreading through the building on the south side of the motorway.

Hampshire Fire and Rescue say that no-one was injured in the incident but there is significant fire and smoke damage to the building.

An investigation will be carried out to establish the cause of the fire.

Smoke billowing from the incident partially closed the motorway while emergency services tried to contain it. One lane is closed and traffic is currently slow on the M3 southbound.

The emergency services were called to the ''major'' fire at around 10.30pm.

A fire service spokesman said: "It started in one of the restaurants in the services and it spread from there, but we have stopped it from spreading throughout the whole building. Firefighters are still on the scene, but the fire is contained."