A COLD store of cod ended up smoked not frozen after a blaze and explosion at a haulage firm.

A rubbish fire which went out of control, set fire to wooden pallets underneath two 1,000 gallon diesel tankers.

The tankers were not full but the heat caused them to explode, spreading the blaze to a tree and the side of a cold storage tanker at Taylor's, Fleet Street, Ribchester, containing £3,000 worth of fish.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.