Passengers were evacuated from a bus after it caught fire in an Oxfordshire village this afternoon (July 22).

The blaze on the Thames Travel X40 service to Oxford city centre caused serious damage to the vehicle.

The incident occurred on the A4074 in Nuneham Courtenay at around 1.30pm.

READ MORE: Bus fire in village causing severe delays

According to Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue, the fire caused serious traffic disruption in the area.

Thames Travel said: “We can confirm one of our vehicles on our X40 service was involved in a thermal incident in Nuneham Courtney on Saturday.

Herald Series:

“A small number of passengers were on-board at the time and were evacuated safety along with our driver.

“There were no injuries and the passengers were transferred onto our next service.

“Our driver contacted the emergency services who attended the scene and we have now opened an internal investigation into the cause of the incident.

“We apologise for any inconvenience caused and would like to reassure passengers that we have an excellent safety record, all our vehicles undergo regular, extensive checks and maintenance and incidents of this nature are extremely rare.”

The Thames Travel bus fire came following a serious crash on the A34 near Abingdon this afternoon.

The road remains closed between the Marcham and Milton interchanges and motorists were using the A4074 as a diversion route to avoid this closure.