A MAJOR emergency response was activated after a gas tanker driver reported his vehicle was on fire on the A38 outside Chudleigh yesterday.

Four fire crews together with police rushed to Harcombe Bends on the Exeter-bound carriageway just after 8am.

It emerged that the tanker was not ablaze. Steam shooting out from a disconnected water hose in the engine compartment had been mistaken for smoke.

Crews from Bovey Tracey, Newton Abbot, Ashburton and Torquay were called to the scene together with officers from Middlemoor police headquarters.