A DRIVER has spoken of his shock after his car burst into flames while he was in it.

Terry Crouch, 52, from Braintree, saw his Citroen turn into a fireball on Thursday after what he believes to be an electrical fault.

The musician was travelling from Sudbury and was sat in traffic on Gosfield Road, in High Garrett, when he noticed smoke.

At first he thought it was coming from the car in front.

“I saw thick, really dark smoke but I thought it might be the exhaust from the car in front of me,” he said.

Terry only realised it was his car when a passer-by alerted him.

He then realised the smoke was coming from underneath his car bonnet.

After managing to get through the traffic lights, he’d hoped to reach a family house in Gosfield before investigating properly.

Other drivers had to flag him down to warn him his car had caught fire.

After rescuing what he could and getting out of the car, Terry called the fire service which arrived promptly.

The car had become completely ablaze in a very short time and Essex Fire and Rescue worked to put it out over the next 20 minutes.

Halstead Gazette: Extinguished: It took about 20 minutes for Essex Fire to put it all outExtinguished: It took about 20 minutes for Essex Fire to put it all out

The mangled wreckage of the car

Terry explained: “Thankfully no one was injured, I just lost a camera, charging battery and a few clothes.

“But now I will need to find another car to finance - I’ll just need to get what I can”.

A spokesman for the Essex Fire and Rescue Service said: "One fire crew from Halstead was called to the scene at 4.37pm and on arrival firefighters reported one car was completely alight.

"Firefighters work to put out the fire and it was extinguished by 4.56pm.

"There has been no record of any injuries or ambulance attendance at the scene.

"The road reopened around 6.30pm.

"The cause of the fire has been recorded as undetermined."