Man dead after multi-vehicle crash on M8 Published duration 20 July 2015

A man has died after a serious crash involving a van, two cars and a lorry closed Scotland's busiest motorway.

Three of the vehicles caught fire following the accident on the M8 westbound, which happened near Livingston at 08:45.

A large plume of smoke could be seen over the accident, but the blaze has now been extinguished.

The road was closed for several hours in both directions between J3 and J2, but it has since reopened.

There were long tailbacks reported in the area throughout the day.

The Scottish Fire and Rescue service said 20 firefighters had been sent to tackle the blaze.

image copyright Robert McDermott

The Scottish Ambulance Service had earlier said two people had been taken to hospital.

A police spokesman said: "Police Scotland responded to a four-vehicle collision on the westbound carriageway of the M8, junction 3 at around 8.50am.

"Two cars, a van and an articulated lorry were all involved in the incident, which resulted in three vehicles catching fire. "

image copyright Megan McCafferty

image copyright Megan McCafferty

image copyright Traffic Scotland image caption Smoke could be seen above the scene of the crash