A PASSENGER on board a coach travelling from Manchester to Rossendale which caught fire today told how she feared she could have died.

Jane Doidge was in a group of 30 people on board the Volvo 52-seater coach returning to Bacup on Saturday night after a night out.

All the group were workers from Bacup shoemaking firm E Sutton and Son, which is closing at the end of the month.

About 140 jobs are set to go at East Lancashire's last remaining major footwear manufacturer after bosses announced in May that they planned to move production abroad.

Saturday's trip to Manchester had been organised for workers to have a last chance to have a night out together before the closure.

But as they arrived at Rawtenstall following the night out, the coach set alight.

Mrs Doidge, who organised the trip, said: "We stopped off at a pub in Rawtenstall and people were banging on the windows of the coach saying it was glowing underneath.

"The next thing we knew there was an explosion and everybody had to evacuate the coach.

"We could have died and some people are still suffering from coughs caused by the smoke.

"It was supposed to be a bit of a night out to cheer us up because we are being made redundant, but it didn't quite go as planned."

Firefighters who were called out to tackle the blaze believed to have been caused by a fault in the braking system, which set fire to the front tyres.

There will be no further investigations into the incident, which is being treated as an accident.

The fire service said they were not conducting any further inquiries and the police were not called out to the fire.