Vauxhall boss apologises after another car bursts into flames

Vauxhall has apologised to customers for a car fault which has led to hundreds of fires across the country.

Director Peter Hope's apology came at the end of a grilling by MPs as they questioned why an investigation into the fault hadn't begun sooner. A mass recall is currently underway at the cost of €40 million.

However on the same day, the effects of another Zafira fire were being felt in Trowbridge. Ruth Chettleburgh's told ITV News how she could only look on as a fire, which began in her Vauxhall Zafira, quickly spread to her home:

It's thought there have been 300 similar fires in Zafira B cars - Vauxhall has just recalled them for a second time after initial repairs failed to rectify the fault.

The company admitted to a committee of MPs that it had known about the problem since 2009, but only started to investigate in 2014.

The problem - which only affects the B model with manual heating controls - was initially blamed on faulty repairs to a fuse in the heating system - this is now to be replaced in more than 230,000 vehicles.

One woman from Plymouth welcomed the apology from Vauxhall, after a year of campaigning to help raise awareness.

Sue Freemantle's own Vauxhall Zafira burst into flames last year, but she says it's lucky no one has been killed. She helped set a group and spread the message that the vehicles weren't safe.

Listen to her reaction to Vauxhall's apology, as she explains that it's still taken "far too long":