A mum had a lucky escape when her car burst into flames minutes after she’d got out of it.

The driver had been sat in the Volkswagen Golf with the heater on as she waited for her children outside the Churchill primary school, Hawkinge, when she noticed the smell of smoke.

She got out of the vehicle and within minutes the electrical fault under the dashboard turned the car into a fireball.

The fire brigade was called and crews were at the scene for about 30 minutes on Wednesday afternoon.

Firefighter Mick Dennis said: “If you smell smoke while in a car you should get straight out. The car was completely destroyed.”