Lorry inferno

Fire closes main town road

FIRE engulfed an HGV as it drove along Hinckley’s Northern Perimeter Road last night with explosions from its blazing cargo rocking nearby houses.

Crowds gathered on the bank overlooking where it came to a stop after loud bangs alerted them to the drama.

Two fire crews from Hinckley Station and a pump from Market Bosworth were turned out at around 11.25pm to find the articulated lorry well ablaze. The driver had escaped unhurt.

Michelle Pullen, who lives on the estate opposite the scene, was just going to bed when she realised something was happening near the new housing development off the A47.

She had been down to the fields adjacent to the Triumph factory earlier in the day to take some shots of the groundworks which will pave the way for new homes.

She said: “I’d heard a few bangs and thought it must be someone slamming car doors, then the house started to shake and the bangs got really loud. I looked out of my bedroom window and I could see flames coming from the fields where I had taken photos that day.

“I thought someone had set fire to the digger and the lorry which were in the field so I decided to go and see if I could get some follow-up shots. I went out and stood on the bank across from the fields. There were probably 20 people there and all these loud explosions were going off.

“I realised then it was a lorry which had pulled in right by the double gate which is the entrance to the construction site. I don’t know whether the driver had known there was a problem and pulled in there.

“The whole lorry was on fire. On the back were a host of things, gas canisters, what I guessed were swathes of fabric but was actually turf, exhaust systems.

“It was difficult to see what was happening on the road below but there were at least two fire engines and police. It was really dramatic, not something you would expect. Just the impact of the explosions, they were shaking everyone’s house.”

After just a few hours sleep Michelle returned to the scene this morning to capture the clean up and the track the true devastation of the vehicle, destroyed by the blaze.