An army of firefighters battled for almost two hours to bring a fire under control at a Barking car workshop on Tuesday evening.

A total of 58 firefighters in eight fire engines were called to the single-storey building on Alfreds Way, after the flames spread across four cars.

Emergency fire crews from Barking were called just before 5pm with firefighters from East Ham, Ilford, Dagenham, East Ham, Poplar, Wennington and Wimbledon also involved.

LPG gas cylinders were present at the scene, but no evacuations were made.

The cause is under investigation.

As a result significant delays were caused on the roads with closures put in place around the Lodge Avenue roundabout.

The A13 Alfred’s Way eastbound was shut at Movers Lane while the A123 Ripple Road was also closed in Barking

A diversion is currently in operation affecting bus routes 62, 173, 287 and 368.

Station Manager Steve West who was at the scene said: “Crews worked really hard to bring this fire under control.

“When firefighters arrived they were confronted with quite a large blaze, with four cars inside the workshop alight.

“Thankfully there were no reports that anyone was involved and the workshop wasn’t in a residential area so no-one had to be evacuated.”

The blaze was just a few miles away from the scene of the major fire that prematurely ended a firefighters strike last month.