FIREFIGHTERS tackled a car fire on the Weymouth relief road this morning.

The car fire was located between Bincombe and Monkton Hill and affected traffic between Weymouth and Dorchester.

The vehicle was completely destroyed by the fire that was believed to have been started by an electrical fault in the engine.

A Dorset Fire and Rescue spokesman said: "We were alerted at 8:50am to a vehicle fire on the A354 Ridgeway Hill.

"I can confirm that we were alerted at 08:50 to a vehicle fire on the A354  Ridgeway Hill.

"Two crews from Dorchester attended the incident, working in partnership with the Police and Ambulance service.

"The cause is believed to have been an electrical fault in the engine bay.

"The stop notice was received at 09:23am"

A spokesman for Dorset Police said they were called to the scene at 8.53am, but that no road closures were put in place.

The ambulance service also attended but said there were no believed to be any injuries and they went as a precaution.

Weymouth Relief Road re-opened at approximately 10am with traffic slowly returning to normal.

Delivery driver Roy Hallett, who lives in Dorchester, said he was travelling from Dorchester to Weymouth at 9am when he was held up in traffic.

He said he was stuck in traffic for an hour and saw firefighters arrive at the scene of the car fire.

He added: “The driver and any passengers in the car were very lucky to get out of the car before the fire – and I’m glad that nobody was hurt.

“Cars these days can burn for hours and this one had quite a lot of damage to it.”