A blaze engulfed a Banbury factory the day after a BMW ploughed into a building in the same road.

Part of the Swan Foundry factory in Swan Close Road, opposite the entry slip-road to Morrisons, went up in flames shortly before 6.30pm yesterday.

On Monday a BMW smashed into the wall of Laser Sailboats next door, but the incidents are not connected.

Swan Foundry quality assurance manager Chris Phillips said the fire had broken out in a small part of the business known as Prop Shop and praised the fire service for acting quickly to contain the blaze.

He said: "There is no real damage to any other areas of the factors, which as far as it goes is good.

"One small building has been badly damaged, it is the smallest area of the site.

"We are still operational as usual.

"It was quite strange coming just after the BMW incident next door.

"They say bad luck comes in threes. I do not know who will get the third bit but hopefully it is not us."

Oxfordshire Fire and Rescue Service sent three fire engines to the scene from Banbury and Bicester as well as an officer who was in the area at the time.

As the fire engines made their way through the rush hour traffic the control room received a number of repeat calls from people who saw large amounts of smoke.

This led to another two fire engines and three specialist units being sent to the scene, including the incident command unit from Woodstock.

When fire fighters arrived they were met by a well-developed fire, which they had to access by navigating their vehicles through narrow passageways.

Incident commander Crew Manager Chris Jarvis said: "Access initially proved difficult but we made our way down to the building next to the Swan Foundry.

"The factory owner was on site and assisted us in gaining entry.

"A total of eight firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used two hosereels and a main jet to extinguish the fire that had broken through the roof of the building.

"They quickly put out the fire and stopped it spreading to adjacent buildings, which included the bus garage."

Station Manager Mick Clarke, who also attended the scene, said: "The factory produced moulded parts using plastic and wax so this gave rise to the large amounts of smoke that could be seen across Banbury during rush hour.

"Some of the materials involved in their processes gave us cause for concern so a hazardous materials advisor and the environmental protection unit were called in.

"We quickly established that there was little risk to the environment and operations were concluded.”

The fire service said the fire was not being treated as suspicious.