McDONALD’S restaurant at the Penn Inn roundabout was evacuated on Thursday afternoon (Dec 31) after a vehicle caught fire in the ‘drive-thru’ queue.

Firefighters were called out from Newton Abbot station at 1.30pm.

Watch manager Scott Leaman said: ‘A man pulled into the ‘drive-thru’ and started looking at the menu, when smoke started pouring out from under his front passenger seat.

‘He and his male passenger got out of the car within seconds and the car then burst into flames.j

‘We were there within minutes but because of the strong winds the car was well alight when we arrived.’

Mr Leaman said the blue Citroen Xsara has its battery positioned under the passenger seat.

‘We believe, therefore, that it was an electrical fault which caused the fire,’ he added. ‘The driver had just filled up with petrol at the garage but this, we believe, did not cause the fire.’

McDonald’s customers were forced to evacuate the ‘drive-thru’ and restaurant when the fire started.

Mr Leaman added: ‘The staff at McDonald’s should be highly praised – they got everyone out of their vehicles and quickly evacuated the restaurant.

‘Everyone was assembled at the evacuation point in Sainsburys car park before we arrived.’

Sainsburys’ petrol station was closed as a precaution for 15 minutes during the incident.

One fire crew attended the scene. The fire was extinguished with one high-pressure hose reel and the crew used two sets of breathing apparatus.

The car was towed away by a recovery company