The owners of a bus which suddenly burst into flames have said specialist engineers from a different firm were carrying out repair work at the time of the huge blaze.

Firefighters spent an hour dousing the fire which damaged a double-decker bus in Felixstowe Road in Levington at around noon on Tuesday.No passengers were on board and the driver was uninjured.

Confirming it was one of their fleet, a Beestons spokesman said: “The vehicle was in the custody and care of a company who are vehicle systems specialists. It was being worked on by them and caught fire, whilst being driven by one of their employees on a ‘road-test’. Some electrical and mechanical systems on coaches today require specialist equipment. Our vehicle was simply booked in to a time slot for work to be assessed.”