Cars damaged at multistorey as fire rips through Audi
Driver manages to escape inferno in time
A Tesla and three other vehicles were damaged after a blaze broke out on a roof-top car park.
It started in a white Audi Q7 in an open-air section of The Mall’s multistorey, off King Street, in Maidstone.
Two fire crews were called at around 11.30am on Friday as plumes of black smoke billowed from the burning car.
The driver, a woman, was able to exit the vehicle and was unhurt, but her car was seriously damaged before firefighters were able to extinguish the flames.
Security staff from The Mall temporarily shut off access to the car park while the incident was being dealt with.
Three other nearby vehicles, believed to be a Tesla, a Nissan Micra and a BMW were damaged by the flames and heat.
Abi Wilding could see the blaze from her office in Maidstone House, which overlooks the car park.
She said: “It really went up. There was so much smoke it was like a foggy day and there were loud popping noises coming from the car.”
A spokesman for The Mall said on Friday: “Earlier this morning an Audi Q7 burst into flames while driving on the top floor of our car park.
“The driver of the vehicle alerted the fire brigade who arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire within 20 minutes. Unfortunately, three other
cars were damaged by the fire but thankfully no one was injured.
“The affected area of the car park was cordoned off by our security staff and will remain so until the damaged cars are removed.
“The rest of the car park and the shopping centre are open as normal.
“We would like to thank the fire brigade and police for the rapid and efficient response to the incident.”