Wiress Burnnning!

I turned my motor on this morning and put my sidelights on, then smoke began to appear from behind the ashtray area, i turned the engine off and pulled the panel away, luckily the burning stopped and i found the wires leading to the lighter socket had started to melt, I turned the car on again then and turned the sidelights on, the lights come on but the dials don't light up..
 
Anyone got any ideas into why it happened, and what i can do to sort it?

sounds like a short in the circuit somewhere. unplug your lighter and bulb and see what happens. if its not that then one of the other bulbs may have blown and fused incresing the resistance in the circuit.

I disconnected the ciggarette lighter and pulled the bulb away, the two wires seem to of melted a bit, the light on the dials still doesn't seem to come on when i put the lights on. Do you recon it would be a fuse/relay problem like?

cheers craig

check your fuses it maybe that when it started to get hot it popped a fuse. can't remember which fuse is interior lights but should be in chudds thread.