FIREFIGHTERS responded within minutes after a car went up in flames on the A31 between Farnham and Alton on Thursday afternoon.

The car, believed to be a Vauxhall, was gutted by the blaze which broke out at around 3.30pm on the westbound carriageway just before the Bentley slip-road.

A single male occupant escaped the vehicle unharmed after parking his smoking car in a lay-by, and a single fire engine attended the incident.

The fire spread to nearby bushes, tinder-box dry because of the prolonged heatwave, but firefighters were able to quickly douse the blaze.