Lorry filled with barrels of beer goes up in flames on A40 in west London

Fierce: The inferno on the A40 this afternoon
‏@MPSNGreenford/Twitter
Ramzy Alwakeel12 August 2015

A lorry packed with bottles of beer burst into flames on the busy A40 in west London this afternoon.

No one was hurt but the blaze, which sent a plume of smoke high into the air, raged for more than an hour as firefighters battled to put it out.

Off-duty Met sergeant Mark Twitchen jumped out of his police car when he spotted the fire and ran over to help.

"The smoke was thick but thankfully the wind was blowing away from the A40," he said. "A van driver blocked off the slip road and we remained until fire brigade arrived. We stopped and checked the welfare of the driver and dialled 999 to ensure the emergency services knew exactly where it was."

A Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue spokesman said the brigade had been called to a fire on the trailer unit of lorry containing bottles of beer and empty beer kegs on the A40 in Denham.

"One appliance and crew from Gerrards Cross and one from Langley attended," he said. "The trailer was moved away from the lorry. Firefighters used two hose reels and two sets of breathing apparatus."

One lane of the exit slip road to the Denham roundabout is shut, and there is traffic on the westbound A40.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in