FIREFIGHTERS tackled a car fire in the par park at HMP Verne.

One eye witness said there were huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air.

He said: “I could see black smoke, lots and lots of black smoke. It was going about 100 feet in to the air.”

A spokesman for Dorset Fire and Rescue service said fire crews attended the scene and the fire involved a vehicle in the car park and it was not a fire in the prison.

The cause of the fire is believed to have been an electrical fault.