Outing ends in flames
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• Last Saturday, a coach belonging to Shearings Holidays Ltd carrying a party of elderly passengers to Torquay, burst into flames at the top of Telegraph Hill, in Devon.
The driver of a following car, Mr T. Harwood, of London, told CM: "At first, there were a few sparks, but within four minutes the coach was a raging inferno with flames leaping 25ft."
The coach was a Bedford VAL70 with a 1969 Plaxton Panorama Elite body which cost £8,500 last year.
According to the driver, the fire started at the exhaust manifold. Mr A. Baines, the company's transport manager, said on Monday that they were unable to state the actual cause of the fire until the wreckage had been thoroughly examined.
The eye-witness said that although the regulation-type fire extinguisher was brought into use immediately, it proved ineffectual.
None of the passengers was injured but Mr Harwood said that the elderly people appeared to experience difficulty in using the emergency exits.