Fire crews arrived at the firm at 2.30am on Saturday to tackle a serious fire, which wasnt brought under control until later that afternoon.

The 2,500m2 production unit was 100% damaged by fire, according to the Tyne & Wear Fire Brigade, but firefighters saved an adjacent 900m2 warehouse building. No one was injured in the blaze, the cause of which has not yet been established.

Washington Fire Station station officer Chris Lowther said 10 appliances were used along with three special appliances and two aerial platforms.

During the course of the fire there was an explosion and fire brigade personnel were forced to partially withdraw, though none was injured, said Lowther.

Police were also called to the incident and closed two nearby roads due to the smoke hampering visibility.

This morning, staff were contacting clients that had work on site and were trying to reroute production to the groups other sites.

The groups other companies Reed Clean-Pack in Gateshead and Reed Print Direct Mail in Sunderland - are unaffected by the fire.

(*) Fire crews from Suffolk and Norfolk were called to a small blaze at book printer Clays, the Bungay-based St Ives subsidiary, in the early hours of this morning (24 November).

The blaze, which involved the firms glue tanks, took just under an hour to bring under control and fire crews evacuated the plant.

A spokeswoman for Suffolk Fire Service said it was too early to determine the cause of the fire, but it was not being treated as suspicious.

Clays handled the printing of the first five Harry Potter novels, the latest of which was Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.