Life is far from cushty for Sheppey's very own Trotter family after their three-wheeled van went up in flames and melted.

Only Fools and Horses fan Scott Strudwick paid a south London secondhand car dealer £828 for the 24-year-old replica vehicle.

But matters became heated for his 42-year-old dad Paul last week when his garish yellow van's engine caught fire in Eastchurch Road, Minster - sending flames 50ft into the air.

Everyone knows that "he who dares, wins", but the shop owner thought better of fighting the flames - perhaps thinking of another BBC show Ashes to Ashes.

A distraught Mr Strudwick, of Bridgewater Road, Sheerness, said: "I'm lost for words. I loved that car.

"The fire was like was something from a Del Boy scene.

"Earlier in the day the battery had gone flat and so I had it tow-started to get it going again.

"I thought I'd take it for a drive to rev the battery up a bit and suddenly I sense the engine is losing power.

"Next thing I know there's smoke coming out of the bonnet. I jumped out and stood back as the smoke built up.

"Then the van burst into a ball of flames reaching some 50ft high. In just four minutes it had melted into a plastic lump."

The van had 64,000 miles on the clock and had been owned by Mr Strudwick for six weeks.

Unfortunately, the fire was just one of those things with no plonker to blame.

All that remained of the vehicle was the triangular frame, covered in a sheet of burnt and melted plastic.

Mr Strudwick added: "When the pickup truck came to dispose of the burnt-out car, the driver said 'What do you want me to do with it? Shovel it up?'

"All that was left was a plastic bubble, dust and soot."

It wasn't so much goodbye to the much-loved vehicle, it was bonjour.