A motorist had a lucky escape after ploughing through a fuel pump at a filling station, as a fuel tanker was unloading next to it.

The man, a 35-year-old care worker from Romford, was driving a Renault 18 along the A12.

He came off the road into the Rivenhall service station, but his accelerator pedal was jammed open and he careered into a diesel pump at 9.45am on Friday.

PC Roger Manser, of Stanway traffic police, said: "He took it off at the base but the attendant saw it and hit the emergency cut-off button. The services were shut all morning.

"There were no injuries but he was very lucky. A petrol tanker was filling up right beside it. If it had been a petrol pump, not diesel, it could have been very different because petrol is much more flammable."

Converted for the new archive on 19 November 2001. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.