POLICE say a motorist is "lucky to be alive" after a car flipped over on to its roof on a busy motorway.

The M271 southbound carriageway has reopened after a silver Peugeot 206 overturned on to its roof close to the slip road at junction one.

Daily Echo:

Police had closed it while the stricken vehicle was recovered.

A member of the police roads unit at the scene took to social networking site Twitter to say the motorist was "lucky to be alive" but had only suffered "minor injuries."

Daily Echo:

Motorists were allowed to turn their cars around and head back towards the M27 interchange to find alternative routes into Southampton but traffic trying to leave the M27 to get on to the M271 is backing up.