Car fire causes closure of major Birmingham road
A car caught fire while travelling along a major route in Birmingham sending plumes of thick smoke into the air and forcing closure of main road tunnel.
Fire crews were called to the southbound A38 Suffolk Street Queensway at around 5pm yesterday.
Officials were forced to close the Holloway Circus underpass while the blaze was extinguished and the vehicle made safe.
Two people in the car were able to escape the vehicle without injury.
Closure of the route caused heavy traffic to build up quickly with roads in the city brought to a standstill.
Queues tailed back to the A38 Aston Expressway and Aston Road.
Crews from Highgate and Ladywood fire stations were able to extinguish the blaze within 40 minutes.
The vehicle was left totalled by the blaze with the front of the vehicle almost completely destroyed.
Jason Wiles, of West Midlands Ambulance Service tweeted: "Two very lucky occupants left uninjured."
A spokesman for West Midlands Fire Service said: "Three crews were dispatched to the fire.
"We were there for around 40 minutes in all and were able to bring the fire under control quickly.
"Because of the location this took place in there was a lot of traffic disruption.
"The underpass was closed off to allow crews to put the fire out."
