A small child’s toy battery caused a small fire in the back of a refuse lorry in Aylesbury.

At around 1.15 on Friday, March 22, a fire engine from Aylesbury Fire Station attended the scene along Pembroke Road in the same town.

The contents of the container were emptied and the firefighters used one hose reel and two hay drags.

Rubbish lorries catching fire from batteries not being correctly discarded have been a regular theme in the UK, which has led to severe consequences.

In January this year, a refuse vehicle in Bath was covered in flames after a battery was crushed in the machinery, with similar incidents happening in Wokingham, Peterborough, Bridgewater and Cambridge.

 Additionally, research conducted by Material Focus, a non-profit organisation in London that encourages people to recycle electrical, revealed that over 700 fires had been caused by batteries not being removed from appliances before they were thrown away.