A driver has described the moment he realised his van was on fire as he drove around Maidstone's one-way system.

John Varney, owner of Hydro Dynamix cleaning company, based in Bearsted, was travelling along Tonbridge Road, close to Maidstone West station, at 1.20pm when he noticed something was wrong.

He said: "I saw smoke coming out of the van so I stopped and jumped out. It seems to have been an electrical fault in a piece of machinery I use for carpet cleaning.

"The van didn't go up, it was just a small fire in the back. It's not too badly damaged and everyone is alive, which is the main thing.

"Luckily I've got another van so it's business as usual."

The entire one-way system was closed by police while firefighters tackled the flames.

The right hand lane remained shut for a while longer with fire crews eventually leaving the scene shortly after 2pm.

During that time queues built up with traffic queuing all the way back to Archbishop's Palace in Mill Street.

Mr Varney wished to thank firefighters for their speedy response.

He added: "The boys from red watch were there in about six minutes. They dealt with it really quickly, which I appreciate."