A LANDSCAPE gardener has told of the moment the van he was driving burst into flames and caused three explosions.

Craig Scott, 25, was working on parkland in Maximus Drive, Colchester, when the drama unfolded.

The dad-of-one said: “I could smell smoke in the left hand side door at the back.

“I pulled over and opened the back door, and saw where the smoke was coming through. It just caught alight.”

Mr Scott, of Mumford Road, West Bergholt, and his colleague who had been in the passenger seat, escaped from the vehicle unharmed – and just in time. He added: “There were three explosions as there were three petrol cannisters in the back.

“I was about four to five feet away when the first two went off.

“It was a shock, I didn’t know what to do.

“I was trying to get water out of a fire hydrant by the side of the road, but the flames were so high and there was also the heat.”

Mr Scott’s colleague called the fire brigade, which sent two fire engines to the scene.

The blaze was put out shortly afterwards.

Police also attended to divert traffic away from the scene until the truck, which was totally burnt out, was taken away by a recovery vehicle.

Mr Scott, who has a daughter Aaliyah, three, said: “There are a lot of houses down here and it could have been a great deal worse.”

Boss Martin Chapman said the van was worth around £10,000 and he was “absolutely gutted”.

He said: “We have got some big contracts in Brentwood we should have been on, but because we didn’t get finished here, we came back. It was a good truck.”

The fire, which started around 1pm on Friday, was suspected to have been caused by an electrical fault.

The landscaping firm is based in the Colchester area, but has asked not to be named.