A fire which broke out above a charity shop in the centre of St Albans started accidentally, firefighters say.

Binmen spotted smoke coming out of a third floor window above the charity shop in Chequer Street just before 6.40am.

The fire had started inside a storage room used to hold clothes donated to the shop.

Crew commander Darren Bassill told the St Albans Review: “Luckily, it was spotted early by the binmen who were outside at the time.

“Four firefighters used the ladder to go in through the window and extinguished the fire.

“The room had some smoke damage. Luckily, it was spotted early and it was contained in just that room.”

The building was empty at the time.

Firefighters spent more than two hours on the scene, as they checked to make sure the fire had not spread to other areas of the building, including the roof and walls.

Crew commander Bassill explained: “We had to make sure it had not got into the roof and make sure it wasn’t going to spread.”