A passerby said a road near their house in Hazlemere descended into ‘pandemonium’ when a car suddenly caught fire this afternoon.

The eyewitness, who wanted to be named as R. Rainey, was heading to the Co-op supermarket on Park Parade at around 4:30pm when he saw that firefighters had cordoned off part of the nearby Western Dene Road to tackle “heavy smoke” from a car fire.

(Image: R. Rainey)

Only one fire engine was pictured at the scene, with several crew members working to put out the blaze from the blackened car, parked on the kerb opposite the supermarket.

Mr Rainey said: “The car looked totally burnt out – they blocked off the entire road to deal with it. The engine was completely done and there was damage to the front and back. I think it was an electrical problem.

(Image: R. Rainey)

“The fire crew must only have arrived a few minutes before I walked past – other people were coming out onto the road to see what was going on too. It was absolute pandemonium.”

(Image: R. Rainey)

A spokesperson for the Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said a car and tree on Park Parade were "well alight" when a crew from Aylesbury arrived at 4:07pm.

Although they didn't confirm what the cause of the fire was, they added that firefighters had used "one set of breathing apparatus and one hose reel jet" at the scene.