Merseyside Police BMW blows up on the Formby bypass - Video footage here...

A Police car on the Formby bypass at 12:20am this morning, Thursday 22nd December caught fire and the windows blew out. The bypass was closed and thick black smoke funneled down the road.

A spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "We can confirm that a Police vehicle caught fire on the Formby by-pass. The Police BMW was being driven along the bypass in the direction of Liverpool when it filled with smoke. The officer quickly managed to stop the vehicle safely and get out before it was destroyed by fire. The officer was unhurt."

Eye witness Ben Jones said: "As we pulled around the roundabout, the Policeman had just slammed on to stop the car. The flames at that time were coming out of the back of the car, he got out the car and grabbed a fire extinguisher, the fire was only in the back of the car at this point. He tried to put the fire out with the extinguisher but, it had spread to the inside of the car."

Ben went on to say: "Next minute, other Police cars turned up and blocked off the bypass. The car tyres then blew up and the windows blew out. The fire brigade then turned up and put the fire out."

Merseyside Fire service attended the scene and extinguished the fire and the vehicle has now been removed for examination. The spokesman for Merseyside Police said: "Merseyside Police vehicles travel hundreds of thousands of miles a year and a full review of this incident will take place. There is no indication that this is anything other than an isolated incident."

Here is the video footage provided by Ben Jones who saw the incident and managed to video it....