Fire crews were called to cut free a trapped person from one of the vehicles.
Rush hour commuters faced tailbacks around an Aberdeenshire village following a false alarm about a vehicle on fire.
Emergency services were called to Blackburn at 5pm after a concerned member of the public spotted smoke coming from a car parked at the side of the A96 Aberdeen to Inverness road.
The passerby believed that a blaze had broken out inside the vehicle, but firefighters have now confirmed the smoke was the result of a “mechanical fault”.
Motorists passing through the village suffered lengthy tailbacks as the northbound carriageway was reduced to one lane while firefighters examined the vehicle.
A police Twitter account advised that “long delays” were expected around the spot and urged drivers to avoid the area if possible.
But a fire service spokesman has now confirmed that the incident was less serious than first feared.
He said: “This was a false alarm, where a mechanical fault was mistaken for a fire.
“A passerby phoned the incident in, with regard to a car which was parked on the side of the road.
“He thought it was on fire but our investigations discovered that was not the case.”
Delays on A96 after false alarm over “car on fire”
