A man was forced to pull over after he saw smoke emerging from the bonnet of his car.

Firefighters were called at 11.10pm last night after the man, who is thought to be in his 30s, had got out of his car just before it went up in flames.

The 55 plate Volvo was parked up at the side of Cherry Garden Lane in Folkestone when the crew got there.

The blaze had emerged from the engine compartment.

Crew manager Mick Scott-Smith said: "He was driving at the time when he saw the smoke from under the bonnet.

"The man had driven down from Ashford."

He said the rest of the car was not damaged and that the crew spent 40 minutes putting the flames out.