RUSH-hour motorists were held up after a bus caught fire in York due to a suspected electrical fault.

Fire crews were alerted to the scene at 6.45am yesterday by six members of the public who reported that the vehicle was "well alight".

Police officers were called out to direct traffic past the No 6 Clifton Moor-bound First York bus, as it blocked a lane near the Wigginton Road junction with Crichton Avenue for several hours.

First bus driver Gordon Smith said: "I could smell burning then someone on a bike went past and alerted me. I had just dropped one passenger off at the hospital and there was one left on the bus at the time.

"There was smoke coming out of the back compartment."

Sergeant Dave Hopper, of York Police, said officers turned out to help control the traffic until the bus was towed back to the First York depot in James Street.

"There's nothing suspicious about it as far as we are aware," he said.

"It is an unusual incident, but I don't think anyone was in danger or traffic was affected unduly."

Updated: 11:59 Saturday, July 02, 2005