Cars destroyed in Market Drayton gas explosion

A dozen cars were destroyed when fire engulfed a wooden garage at a home in Shropshire and caused a gas cylinder to explode blowing part of the corrugated roof off the building.

The explosion happened when an argon cylinder was caught up in the fire at the garage of a house off the A41 in Crickmerry, near Market Drayton, last night.

Debris landed in nearby trees following the explosion and all the cars which were parked in and around the garage were gutted in the blaze.

Fire crews were called to the scene at about 7pm and spent almost four hours tackling the incident.

The alarm was raised by the homeowner who was in a nearby wooden shed containing car parts at the time. His hobby is renovating cars.

Fire crews managed to stop the fire spreading to the shed but the garage and all 12 cars in and around it were destroyed.

Incident commander Rob Corfield said: "The garage was well alight when we got there and an argon cylinder inside had already exploded and blown a hole in the corrugated roof.

"There was also a propane gas cylinder in the garage but we managed to cool that down and remove it quite early on.

He added: "There were a number of different cars like an Audi TT in and around the garage but they were all so badly damaged they were almost unrecognizable and the garage itself was destroyed."

No-one was injured but police closed off the A41 at its junction with the A53 and in the run up to Crickmerry from Newport.

The cause of the blaze is currently under investigation although it was not believed to have been suspicious.