KEY POINTS:
Occupants of a station wagon had a lucky escape yesterday, when their car burst into flames in the fast lane of Auckland's Northwestern Motorway.
The owner of the Toyota Scepter wagon, who did not want his name published, said the driver and passenger were both out of the car by the time the flames took hold. They were uninjured, but shaken.
Emergency phonelines took a hammering as passing motorists called 111. After receiving "hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of calls" the Northern Communications centre had to divert them to Wellington, acting senior communicator Doug Cooke said.
Cooke said the first call came in at 2.20pm and a fire unit from Avondale was on the scene 27 minutes later. It was joined by another from Avondale and one unit from Ponsonby, and firefighters used high-pressure hoses to bring the blaze under control.
Police said sparks had been coming from underneath the car.
The car had been heading into the city and had just been fully serviced. The owner's insurance company would be investigating the cause of the fire.
