FAULTY electrics are believed to have been the cause of a fire in flats above a West Watford shop on Sunday morning.

Firefighters were called to Zeb Superstores in Whippendell Road, after store manager, Krushnakumar Kumar, raised the alarm.

He said: "I was in the shop at the time and I called the fire brigade after one of the residents, who can't speak English, came in and told me there was a fire.

"I could see the smoke coming from the top of the building."

Crews from Watford, Garston, Rickmansworth and St Albans attended at 10am and took just over an hour to tackle the blaze.

They had to use breathing apparatus and an aerial appliance.

Eight people were in the three storey building at the time but no-one was injured.

The flats have been fire and smoke damaged but the shop and its stock were barely affected and they were open as usual on Monday morning.