THE emergency services are dealing with an incident in the centre of Shirley.

A road closure was put in place after a vehicle burst into flames, causing heat sand fire damage to the front of a neighbouring shop.

It happened at the junction of Shirley Road and Newlands Avenue just after 12 noon.

Two crews from St Mary's fire station rushed to the scene to deal with the incident.

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman said the road closure had been partially lifted.

One person at the scene said: "The shop owner was saying the car was parked, the driver started up the car and it just burst into flames."