A COACH driver and 49 passengers had a lucky escape when the vehicle burst into flames.
A fractured airpipe started the fire that destroyed a Volvo coach on the A19 this afternoon.
It is thought the faulty airpipe caused the brakes to overheat and sparked the fire underneath the rear axle of the coach as it was heading northbound near Thirsk.
Two fire crews from Northallerton and one from Thirsk responded to the blaze at 1.54pm.
Firefighters arrived to find all 49 passengers and the driver had evacuated without injury.
They extinguished the blaze within 20 minutes, but the coach was virtually completely destroyed.
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