LOCALS were woken in the early hours of the morning shocked to find a car engulfed in flames.

“I thought someone was doing fireworks outside, I opened the blinds to check and there was a car burning on the street.”– Azfer Ali, 44, neighbour.

At 5:00am on Thursday 22nd November, the Satchit family were devastated to find their silver E-class Mercedes in a cloud of smoke after the blaze died down.

Fire fighters were alerted immediately and they wasted no time in getting to work as onlookers watched from their windows. Although most of the residents on Clayponds Gardens were half asleep they all had the same question running through their mind - how on earth did this happen?

Now, the area is usually peaceful with everyone getting on with their lives, which is why this came as quite a surprise to those aware. The family are clueless as to what caused the fire and nothing has been revealed as of yet.

Strangely, the fire happened on a street normally full of parked cars but it was rather deserted on Thursday night. Was there an underlining fault with the vehicle or was this a spiteful crime at the hands of an arsonist?

The Mercedes has been written off, leaving the family somewhat immobile and daughter Aradhna Satchit, 14 said “One day we had a car and the next we didn’t. It’s weird because you always hear all kinds of things about other people but you can’t really get any closer to home than this. We’re just all glad no one was hurt”.

What are your thoughts on the situation; could it have been more than a coincidence?