Exploding car wakes street (From Malvern Gazette)

Exploding car wakes street

1:04pm Saturday 4th August 2007 in News

A QUIET residential street in Malvern Link was rudely awakened when a car exploded in the early hours of Friday morning (August 3).

Residents rushed into the street after being alerted by a double explosion a few minutes before 1am in Redland Road.

The car, thought to be a green Citroen ZX, was parked in the road next to the fence surrounding St Matthias CE Primary School.

Fire fighters rushed to the scene after calls from residents. Spokesman Alec Mackie said they got 14 calls in just six minutes.

One engine from the nearby fire station was sent to the scene and dealt with the blaze. Firemen called police as they felt the fire was of suspicious origin.

The next day, police confirmed they were treating the incident as suspected arson. They want to hear from anyone who saw events leading up to the explosion.

Sarah Metcalf of Redland Road said: "We were all woken up by the first bang, and everyone rushed into the street in their night clothes to see what was going on. We were lucky the trees didn't catch fire, the way the flames were going up into them. There were smaller explosions as the fire burned. I was really quite frightening."

Fran Allies (correct), of nearby Cromwell Road, said: "There were two massive bangs. We were looking out the window and we could see the flames going up really high."

Gareth Sampson, of Cromwell Road, said: "There was lots of shouting, beeping of horns etc, followed by a couple of loud firework-type bangs."