A WOMAN has described the harrowing moment her car caught fire with her disabled husband trapped inside.

Sylvia Farmer, 76, of Westbourne Grove, Westcliff, had just put her 86-year-old husband Donald into their car outside their home when a passing car caught fire, igniting it also.

The Echo reported last week how a passing silver Mercedes C220 became engulfed in flames following a suspected electrical fault.

It quickly spread to the Farmer’s Agila causing the petrol tank to explode seconds before Mr Farmer was pulled from the car by quick-thinking neighbours.

Mrs Farmer said: “Donald had a stroke on September 9 and this was his first day out since then. We were taking our dog to the vets. I’d just put Donald in the car and went round the back to put his mobility scooter in so that we could go shopping afterwards. I went round the side of the car to get the dog when this car came alongside of us.

“I could see smoke coming from under the car. The next moment a man got out of the car. There was smoke coming from under the bonnet and around its edges. The man walked down the road and told me to call the fire brigade.”

Mrs Farmer added: “Then next thing I knew it went whoosh. Flames were under the car coming towards us. I was screaming. My disabled husband was in the car and couldn’t get out, but then four ladies came from nowhere and managed to drag Donald across the driver’s seat and get him out.”

Mr Farmer’s manual wheelchair was brought out of the house and they all managed to move away from the couple’s car just as its tyres and fuel tank exploded.

Though they escaped unharmed, the drama has taken its toll on the couple.

Mrs Farmer said: “I’ve lost my voice a bit from screaming so much. We can’t get out of the house now because the mobility scooter was destroyed and we have no car. The scooter will be replaced by my home insurance, but while the man’s insurers will eventually pay out for our car they have refused a courtesy car because he didn’t have the right level of insurance.

“Donald has been very quiet cooped up in the house. We have his wheelchair, but I can’t push that very far.”