Passengers were evacuated from a bus after it caught fire on its way to Norwich this morning.

The 146 Border Bus service was forced to pull over after smoke started to fill the vehicle on the A146 between Stockton and Hales.

The driver ordered everyone off the vehicle before putting out the engine fire with an extinguisher.

Passenger Kaye Nichols, 34, said: 'We were driving along the A146 when someone shouted there was lots of smoke coming from the back of the bus.

'The driver said to everyone 'move to the front of the bus immediately', and he then pulled into a lay-by.

'At this point there was black smoke coming out from the bus and he evacuated everyone [from the vehicle].

'Everyone grabbed their stuff and as soon as the doors opened they all rushed out.

'The driver then got a fire extinguisher and ran to the back of the bus to put it [the fire] out.'

Mrs Nichols, who works in HR, praised the driver, adding: 'He acted really quickly, he knew how to respond and he made sure everyone was safe.'

Andrew Pursey, managing director of Border Bus, said the driver's actions ensured the bus was not badly damaged.

He said: 'The driver did really well. He managed to put it out before the bus was too badly damaged. 'The bus is now off the road, but it is salvageable. It will be quite a big fix, but it the fire has not damaged the body at all.'