"It was terrifying" - Lincolnshire couple's horror as their car bursts into flames on busy motorway
An elderly couple from Chapel St Leonards say they are still re-living the horror as their car burst into flames with them and their dogs inside while travelling along the M11 in Essex.
Terry and Penny Madley say they were driving down to Frittenden, near Maidstone on Friday, May 22, when they were nearing Stansted Services when they noticed smoke coming from the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Terry, 80, pulled over to check it over.
Penny, 79, said: “My husband looked underneath the car and couldn’t see anything. The smoke had gone so we set off for the services to look properly.”
But before they could reach the safety of the rest stop, a passing lorry driver shouted across warning they were on fire and the flames leapt up.
Penny recalls: “The flames were coming up the sides of the car and bonnet and we were being shouted at by motorists to get out.”
A passing paramedic car stopped and the emergency worker helped them get their dogs out and another driver helped Terry push their caravan clear as the blaze took hold.
Two men stopped and tried to use their foam fire extinguishers to suppress the flames without success, but also kindly brought water for Penny and Terry and their dogs.
"Everything was exploding – the windows, lights and tyres and there was black smoke,” Penny said. “It was terrifying and it’s still affecting my husband, with lack of sleep and flashbacks.
"Terry looks after our lovely car, polishing and cleaning it, but then to watch it go up in smoke along with all our stuff.”
Emergency services arrived and blocked the road and spent up to an hour dealing with the blaze, leading to congestion on the approach to Stansted Airport. The leading firefighter at the scene told the couple the blaze probably started from an electrical fault brought on by the heatwave.
The twisted, burnt out heap of metal that was their car was taken away and highways officers moved their caravan to Stansted Services. The couple and their dogs were ferried to Cambridge Services and finally reached their home again in the early hours of Saturday, 11 hours later.
Terry is now negotiating with their insurers about getting a replacement vehicle.