Bristol scrapyard fire sends smoke billowing over M32

A fire in Bristol sent thick acrid black smoke billowing across the M32 last night.

Flames were spotted soon after 6pm in the scrapyard of Sims Metal on Gatton Road, St Werburgh's, where a number of scrap cars and a bin containing tyres had caught light.

Police closed off Gatton Road and Saxon Road, as onlookers gathered to watch the blaze from the nearby pedestrian footbridge over the M32 and from Fox Road in Easton on the other side of the motorway.

Nobody was thought to be in the yard when the fire started and the cause of the blaze was being investigated last night.

Four fire engines attended the fire from the Temple and Speedwell stations, including one with a turntable ladder. As the sun set, crews lit up the scene with bright spotlights.

Onlookers took photographs and filmed videos of the fire, which could be seen from the city centre. Cars also slowed on the motorway as the smoke billowed overhead.

Smoke and flames could clearly be seen coming from the yard, situated between the motorway and railway line, near Saxon Road's junction with Warminster Road.

Claire Brown, 38, a secretary from St Mark's Road, Easton, was taking photographs from Fox Road opposite the blaze. She said: "The smoke was really black and there was a strong smell of petrol at first."

Watching from the footbridge was 18-year-old mechanic Pete Morgan from Whitehall Avenue, St George. He said: "I saw all the smoke from my car and wanted to come and see what was happening as it looked quite serious. I thought it might have been Ikea or something."