A massive fire ripped through warehouses in west London, causing plumes of acrid black smoke that could be seen from as far ten miles away.

Staff at Sherry's Wholesalers on Minerva Road, on the Bush Industrial Estate in Park Royal, were alerted to the problem at about 1.30pm when a passer-by rang them saying he could see flames coming from the building.

The warehouse is used as a make-up wholesalers, and large quantities of aerosol cans are stored on the premises.

Paul Shah, 34, the son of one of the factory owners, said: "When I got the call I shouted to everyone to get the hell out of here and we all legged it."

Sculley Andrea, 20, who works at Hunt and Keal, a nearby Subaru trader, said: "It was like bombs going off.

"I saw the door blown across the other side of the road and set fire to the factory opposite.

"There were fireballs blowing out of the top and the peak of the fire was about 30 minutes long and there were a number of explosions during that time."

A 200 metre exclusion zone was set up around the three buildings because of concerns of propane gas cylinders stored in one of them.

One of the warehouse owners, Mr Shudhir, was taken to hospital suffering from shock, but was not thought to be suffering from smoke inhalation.

Barry Newstead, a spokesman for London Fire Brigade, said: "All the buildings were evacuated within the exclusion zone and there was no one injured in this incident."

Around 50 firefighters and ten fire engines were tackling the blaze in the three warehouses, which is spread over 6,000 square metres.

Officers from the environment agency were also on the scene testing chemicals in the smoke to make sure the health risk is minimal.