A faulty air conditioning unit has been blamed for setting fire to the top of a bus carrying 50 people including schoolchildren yesterday.

Firefighters disconnected the batteries to help stop the blaze.

An Epsom fireman said the service was called just after 5pm to a bus which was on fire in Ewell High Street, at the bus stop between Bourne Hall and the Spring Tavern pub.

No one was injured in the incident, which was caused by an electrical fault in the bus’ air conditioning unit.

YESTERDAY: Bus carrying school children catches fire

He said: "The top of the bus was on fire.

"The air conditioning unit had an electrical fault and had caught fire.

"There was a reasonably large fire on top of that."

The firefighter said about 50 people were on the 293 bus to Morden when the fire started but that all were safely evacuated.

He said: "The driver was made aware of the fire by people outside the vehicle."

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Picture: MrParrish

He said that Ewell High Street was closed for about 40 minutes during the incident.