Two men have been branded as evil and malicious after ordering a cabbie to drive to a petrol station before pouring fuel inside his car and torching it.

The blaze wrecked the taxi and damaged the pump at the BP station in Seabrook Road and melted a large plastic bucket.

Shocking footage of the fireball played to the court and showed how for 10 minutes flames were clearly seen licking around the petrol pump.

Scroll down to see the moment the taxi went up in flames

Arsonists father-of-three Warren Hearne and Danny Frost both fled the blaze “like cowards.”

They hailed other taxis to take them out of the area, leaving their victim terrified.

Canterbury Crown Court heard how firemen fought the fire for three minutes using a powerful hose leaving the taxi “a steaming wreck".

Hearne, of Barn Cottage, Hythe and Frost, 27 of Hever Gardens, Ashford have now received prison sentences of five years and seven months after admitting the reckless arson in December last year.

Hearne, a 37 year old ground worker, received an extra nine months for breaching a suspended sentence, and drink driving, making a total of 76 months.

Prosecutor Miles Trigg told how the two men had been thrown out of the Neptune Pub in Dymchurch, gone to the nearby New Beach Holiday Camp and ordered a cab, which was driven by Abdulawar Malikzadev.

"I have seen the footage to me it was evil and malicious..." Judge James O'Mahony

During the journey, drunken Hearne opened a rear door and then Frost berated the taxi driver for stopping. The victim was also threatened with an iron bar.

Mr Malikzadev was then told to go to the BP station where Hearne claimed he wanted to buy alcohol.

Mr Trigg added that once the cab was stopped, Hearne grabbed the nozzle and put .41p worth of petrol into the rear seat - as the taxi driver looked on in horror.

And as the taxi driver pleaded with the men to stop, Hearne pointed the nozzle at him threatening him.

Then with Frost still in the vehicle, the blaze was started and the two men ran away, leaving the cabbie to attempt to rescue some of his belongings.

Mr Trigg added that fortunately the fire brigade arrived in 10 minutes and prevented the fire from engulfing the rest of the station and nearby flats.

Defence barrister Ben Walker-Nolan said Hearne was horrified and ashamed and accepts he was "hostile and belligerent" during the journey.

The lawyer said it had been an act of "pure stupidity" but Judge James O'Mahony retorted: "I have seen the footage to me it was evil and malicious."

Phil Rowley, for Frost, said his partner is expecting their first child next year and could not say why he carried out the attack.

He said: "This was just drunken idiocy and when he was shown the footage he was genuinely shocked by his actions."

The judge said Hearne had shown malice toward a man who had done nothing against him.

He also commended the fire brigades for its prompt response which averted “an utter disaster”.