Homes evacuated amid Weymouth car workshop fire

About 100 homes had to be evacuated when a fire broke out at a car workshop in Dorset.

Fire crews were called to Holly Road in Weymouth shortly before 05:00 BST as flames were seen from the workshop.

Dorset and Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service said the homes were evacuated because there were acetylene cylinders in the workshop.

The blaze, tackled by 45 firefighters, was brought under control by 09:00. There were no reports of any injuries.

A major incident was declared and about 100 houses close to the blaze were evacuated.

Up to 50 people took shelter in the Rock pub.

Landlord Steve Parker said it had been a "substantial fire".

"Due to the nature of the fire they evacuated three or four roads. One of our managers lives on Holly Road and he came and opened the pub and we've used it as a safe haven for the community."

Incident commander Russ True said the operation had gone "very smoothly".

"These cylinders posed a serious risk to members of the public and our crews so it was necessary to create an exclusion zone of 200m around the property."

"I'd like to apologise for the inconvenience but it was necessary."