An exploding battery sparked a fire in a council bin lorry.

Binmen used an onboard fire extinguisher to put out the flames after the discarded power pack blew up after it was collected in Edenbridge yesterday.

The crew of the refuse truck have been praised for their quick thinking as the entire vehicle was in danger of catching fire if they had not moved so fast to put it out.

Sevenoaks District Council is now reminding people never to put any kind of battery in their waste as it can put their staff in danger.

Cllr Margot McArthur said: "It is very dangerous to put any kind of batteries into your waste sacks, regardless of their size.

"The inside of refuse trucks are hot, meaning batteries can heat up and set alight quickly. We’re really proud of the way our team handled the situation but we are urging residents to not let this happen again.

"Please always take domestic batteries to your local supermarket recycling points and larger batteries to the household waste recycling centre."

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