GET OUT NOW!

Police warning to BA pilot when they saw smoke billowing from his car … and just look at what happened seconds later

BEHIND the wheel of his car, John Pearce didn’t have much to think about beyond the road ahead.

What was terrifyingly obvious to everyone else on that road, though, was the pall of thick black smoke billowing out from beneath his Mercedes (above).

With no warning lights or other clues inside the car to suggest anything was awry, the British Airways pilot was oblivious to the drama unfolding at his feet, ignoring a passing motorist who flashed his lights at him.

It took a policeman pulling him over for him to stop and jump out – just in time. Within moments, the car was engulfed in flames.

Mr Pearce said: ‘[The officer] came up to the window and said: “The bottom of your car is on fire.” We both had a look and I said: “So it is.”

‘There had been no clues or indication that anything was wrong inside the car – I couldn’t smell fire and no warning lights came on. I managed to get out … but forgot my wallet.’

Mr Pearce, 56, stood and watched as fire crews put out the blaze, but his £14,000 Mercedes C350 AMG estate was destroyed. ‘I wished I had parked a little further away from the house next to it as the flames were frighteningly close,’ he said. ‘But it could have been worse – no one was hurt.’

Mr Pearce had been driving to his home in Tarrant Monkton, near Blandford, Dorset, after visiting his mother while his wife Heather, 53, and daughter Hannah, 18, were away skiing.

Mr Pearce said his insurance firm had hauled away the six-year-old vehicle to find out if it was faulty. Last year Mercedes recalled 75,000 British cars after reports of fires – but the affected models were all made between 2015 and 2017.

Dorset Police said the road was closed to tackle the flames and that nearby homes were evacuated. It added that the fire had damaged some BT phone boxes.