A COUPLE had a lucky escape as their car was engulfed by flames just moments after they pulled over in Greenfield to investigate smoke coming from under the bonnet.
Graham Beswick, from Chadderton, was travelling in the Citroen C4 with his wife Alison towards Uppermill when they spotted the smoke at the front of the car.
They pulled up at the junction of Ladcastle Road and Oldham Road just above Greenfield and got out to check the problem – and just minutes later the car was consumed by fire.
Graham, 59, explained: “We saw a lot of smoke coming out from under the bonnet. A couple of other cars beeped to tell me.
“Then the smoke started billowing out so we pulled over. My wife got out and stood at the side. I was trying to open the bonnet but saw there were flames underneath.
“We stepped back and called the fire engine and police. The flames took over quickly and even if we’d had a car fire extinguisher it wouldn’t have helped.”
He continued: “It was quite scary and a shock. We’ve had the car for four years and had no problems before, and always have the car serviced regularly.
“Our daughter is getting married at the weekend and we were planning on using the car to carry things to and fro to help out – but we won’t be doing that now.”
Alison added: “It’s just lucky we managed to stop and get out or things could have been a lot worse.”
A team of four fire-fighters from Oldham attended the scene, using two hose reels to tackle the blaze, with one fire-fighter wearing breathing apparatus.
Then a foam hose was used to wash away the fuel on the road before fire-fighters assisted police with traffic management.
Oldham Fire Station Watch Commander Millington said: “It seems to be a purely mechanic fault and accidental. We can’t tell anything else at this stage.”
Debris and ash was swept up from the road but it is likely some repairs will have to be made by Oldham Council to the scorched and damaged tarmac.
The car was winched to the side and pronounced safe to be towed away while the couple were collected by their daughter.
The same thing has just happen to my c4 while parked on my drive, in the middle of the night.