A TOWN has come to terms and paid tribute to a woman who died in a car fire on Monday.

The police closed the A690 around 2pm yesterday after reports of a car on fire. Sadly the driver of the car passed away at the scene.

Flowers have been laid at the scene where the car came to a stop.

Dennis Pybus, a witness said: “I heard a bang across the road from where I live, we could feel the heat, we didn’t know what had happened.

Marie Di Martino who also witnessed it said: “There were a group of lads opposite they were on their phones, we thought they had got out of the car.

"The flames were huge, I thought it was going to explode, you could feel the heat from sitting inside the house. We came out because we were getting worried.”

Hazel Pybus said: “ When the police came the flames where that big and that hot they could not get near. The car was well alight, and it took fire crews a long time to put it out.”

A spokesman for Durham Constabulary said: “We are not, as yet, in a position to confirm the identity of the deceased.

“A forensic examination of the vehicle has been carried out by the joint investigation team who are satisfied that the cause of the fire was not mechanical defect.

“The investigation is continuing and is likely to take some time.”