A shocking video has shown the moments a bus caught fire in a North East town earlier today.

The video, captured by Twitter user @JxckBXX shows a single-decker bus on fire with black smoke billowing out.

An eye-witness at the scene told The Northern Echo: “I have absolutely no clue of the root cause of the fire.

“Me and my mate got back in the car after being in the co-op and noticed a lot of smoke coming out of the back and then after a minute of grey fumes we noticed it caught on fire.

Check out a video of the fire below:

“Firefighters got to the scene about four to five minutes after it caught fire.”

Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service confirmed that they were on scene and tackled the fire, bringing it under control within minutes.

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A spokesperson for the service said: “We can confirm that earlier this afternoon [Wednesday] two TWFRS crews were in attendance of a vehicle fire in the Whickham area of Gateshead.

 “Our fire control team received the initial emergency call at 2.33pm and two appliances from Gateshead and Swalwell Community Fire Stations were dispatched to the scene. Upon arrival the fire fighters started to contain the blaze of the single decker bus.  

 “The firefighters extinguished the fire and left the scene at 2.56pm.”