Van fire in St George's Way, Leicester causes rush hour tailbacks

Rush hour traffic was diverted away from the city's inner ring road this afternoon after a van caught fire. Long queues built up in St Matthews Way and Humberstone Road after traffic was stopped from going along St George's Way where firefighters were dealing with the incident. A crew from Leicester's central fire station was called to the scene at about 4.10pm. The van's owner and driver Dhansuk Parmar, of Thurmaston, said: "I had just been to the DIY store at St George's Retail park and was driving along the road when I noticed smoke coming from the grille.I stopped and called the fire brigade straight away." Crew manager Joanne Raisin said; "We used two hosereels and two BA(breathing apparatus) to put out the fire in the engine compartment. The driver did exactly the right thing." Police were aiming to open one carriageway of St George's Way shortly but traffic problems were expected to continue throughout the rush hour.