With the sun making something of a prolonged appearance at the moment, a Fire Service in the UK has issued a warning about leaving sun glasses on a vehicle dashboard. 

Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service were called to a car fire at the weekend after sunglasses were left exposed on the dashboard of a parked vehicle. The glasses magnified the sunrays causing a fire, which melted much of the vehicle interior. 

A fire brigade spokesman said. “The sun has been strong but beware this can cause fire. Earlier we attended a fire caused by sunglasses left on the dashboard. Make sure you keep reflective objects out of direct sunlight.”

The danger can also be made worse if the area between the dashboard and the windscreen contains lots of clutter, especially if this is paper which can be easily ignited. The advice is very much to keep this area clear, which also adds to driving safety as the risk of unwanted reflections is diminished.