Blaze: smoke billowed out of the car park of Buchanan Galleries Pic: © Stephanie McGregor
A car parked at one of Scotland’s biggest shopping centres has "exploded", sending smoke billowing out into the street.
Firefighters dealt with a blaze involving two cars at Buchanan Galleries in Glasgow City Centre.
Pictures sent to STV News taken during the incident show flames coming out the walls of the car park. It is understood nobody was hurt in the fire. Shoppers in the car park were evacuated from the scene.
Stephanie McGregor, 36, was walking up North Hanover Street when she saw smoke come out of the car park. The American writer then heard a loud bang.
She said: "I was just standing there with a few other people and we were watching the fire. Smoke was coming out through the car park.
"I saw a number of fire engines go into the car park. Then suddenly, there was an explosion. It was a loud bang. It was large enough to scare us all."
Stephanie, who is from Ohio but now lives in Beith in Ayrshire, had been in Glasgow for an appointment and was walking up to Buchanan Bus Station when she witnessed the fire.
A spokeswoman from Strathclyde Fire and Rescue said they got a call about the fire at the car park. The blaze, near the entrance to the top floor of John Lewis, started around 1.03pm. The spokeswoman added that four engines dealt with the fire and the two cars were extinguished by 1.21pm.
Meanwhile, Strathclyde Police said they were made aware of the incident but that it was dealt with by Strathclyde Fire and Rescue.
Image gallery of pictures of the fire >
A spokesman for Buchanan Galleries said: "We can confirm that there was a fire on level five in the multi-storey car park at approximately 1pm today.
"A full evacuation of the car park building took place immediately and fire crews responded quickly to extinguish the fire. No-one was injured in the incident. The car park is now open, and customers are able to access their cars and leave the car park as usual. There will be a small delay before we start to allow new vehicles into the car park.
"Fire crews are currently investigating the cause of the incident. We apologise for any inconvenience the temporary closure of the car park may have caused."
