Dramatic video: Bendy bus engulfed by flames

The bus was being used to train drivers at a firm which ferries construction workers to the site of the 2012 Olympic Stadium in Stratford.

It caught fire in the back section and the blaze spread quickly, engulfing the vehicle's entire frame in flames and smoke.

Firefighters were called to the Ashgrove bus garage in Hackney but could not stop the fire wrecking the bus.

A video obtained by the Evening Standard shows the flames spreading rapidly. It was given to the newspaper by a concerned bus engineer who filmed it on his mobile.

He said: "Everyone knows there were problems with bendy buses and fires four years ago but the faults were supposed to have been taken out of London's stock."

The latest fire will raise fresh safety concerns. There have been a number of similar fires on the buses, which were introduced by Ken Livingstone in 2001 and later dubbed "Ken's chariots of fire".

In 2004, London's fleet of 120 bendy buses was withdrawn after a series of fires within weeks. Three were in service while another was being driven along the M25 for delivery when the engine caught fire.

A worker at the depot told the Standard that staff had been ordered to delete pictures of the latest fire from their mobiles.

He said: "One of the drivers noticed a burning smell after getting out of the cab. By the time engineers got there to have a look at it, it was engulfed in flames.

"They're really panicking about this latest fire and telling everyone to keep quiet about it."

The cause of the blaze on Monday last week is not known.

The Olympic Delivery Authority contracts Hackney Community Transport. An ODA spokesman said: "It was a very, very small fire. The manufacturers are coming to investigate." A Transport for London spokeswoman added: "This is an isolated incident, with early investigations suggesting the fire has no relation whatsoever to earlier bendy bus fires, which were the result of an engine fault which was identified and rectified."