A FAMILY told how they ran for their lives after a petrol bomb was thrown at their van.

Claire Busby and her husband Marc, both 31, were sat in their living room in Kenneth Road, Pitsea, when they heard an “almighty bang”.

After running into their kitchen, they watched in horror as their white Ford Transit van was engulfed in flames.

Mrs Busby said she ran upstairs to drag her two children, aged 11 and nine, out of bed.

She said: “We were sitting in front of the television and all of a sudden I heard this almighty bang.

“We jumped up and my husband ran into the kitchen and screamed that the van was on fire.

“The van has a compressor in it and if that explodes, it would have taken the house down so we had to get out quick.

“My kids were asleep and I had to drag them from their beds and run outside.

“The van went up so fast, it was petrifying.”

Echo:

Charred - The extent of the damage to the van

Within minutes, firefighters arrived and began tackling the blaze, which was started deliberately.

The fire even scorched and melted the front door of the family home, as the van was parked in a layby in front of the house.

CCTV footage captured from a neighbour’s house showed one man smashing the van’s window and lighting a rag, before placing it into the front seat.

As the van, which has Marc’s Mobile Tyres written on the side, went up in flames, the culprit ran away.

Mrs Busby added: “My husband is a mobile tyre fitter and it’s our company. That van is our livelihood.

“We are waiting on the insurance and we are hoping by the end of the week, we will have another van.

“We are not going to let this get us down. “ A spokesman for Essex Fire Service said: “We were called to Kenneth Road at 10.48pm and we sent one fire engine from Basildon. We were finished there by 11.05pm.

“We used one hose reel jet to extinguish the fire.

“It is not yet known what the cause of the fire is.”

An Essex Police spokesman added: “Police are investigating reports of a car fire in Kenneth Road, in Pitsea.

“The white Ford Transit van was found alight and reported to police at around 10.45pm on Saturday, June 25.

“The fire is being treated as suspicious and officers ask anyone with information to contact them on 101.”