Thames Travel bus driver praised after double decker blaze

The fire service has praised a driver for getting passengers to safety before a bus erupted in flames.

The A4074 in Nuneham Courtenay, Oxfordshire, was closed while crews tackled the blaze on Saturday.

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service said the driver did an "excellent job of ensuring all passengers had been evacuated from the bus".

Bus company Thames Travel said there were no injuries on the bus, which is part of its X40 service.

Incident commander Christian Orr said: "This was a difficult incident to deal with, because as well as a severe fire, the diesel tank of the bus had split, so we needed to stop large quantities of diesel from entering the drains and causing possible environmental damage."

The service said when crews arrived the double decker was "well alight" but they brought it under control with the use of two high pressure hose reels.

It said the incident had led to "significant traffic disruption".

A spokesperson for the bus company said the vehicle was involved in a "thermal incident".

They added: "Our driver contacted the emergency services who attended the scene and we have now opened an internal investigation into the cause of the incident.

"We apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to reassure passengers that we have an excellent safety record, all our vehicles undergo regular, extensive checks and maintenance and incidents of this nature are extremely rare."