M5: Bromsgrove dad’s shock as Ford Ranger explodes in fireball
Daniel Adkins, aged 40, was driving his step-dad and younger brother, to work in the GBP29,000 motor when it suddenly spluttered into 'limp home mode'. He managed to manoeuvre onto the hard shoulder before all three men leapt out the truck seconds before it was engulfed in flames. Dramatic photos and footage shows the vehicle fully ablaze with fire and smoke billowing across three-lanes of the packed motorway.
Dad-of-one Daniel, from Bromsgrove, said: "It was a 50mph limit and the motorway was busy when it suddenly felt like I had mechanical failure. "It seemed to lurch into limp home mode and I noticed smoke coming from the bonnet. "I managed to pull across two lanes and onto the hard shoulder when we noticed the flames.
"We all jumped out and ran up the hard shoulder and then it just went bang and exploded. "I've never know anything like it. The heat from the flames was really intense.
"If we'd been inside much longer we'd have struggled to get out when we did." 
Luckily, Daniel and his step-dad Alfred, 68, and brother George, 18, all escaped injury. Daniel, who runs his own electrical contracting business, paid GBP29,000 for the 2021 registered Ford on September 10. He added: "It only had 29,000 miles on the clock and was still under warranty when it exploded.
"It just went up in no time and it started banging. "You do not ever think it would happen to you - it was really surreal. "After the state of shock, it is hard to take in.
"Then it kicked in at 4am the other morning and I noticed how different it could have been." 
Daniel said Spa Motors Hereford, who sold him the car, told him to go through his insurance instead. Daniel, who is married to wife Kelly, aged 40, said: "It was not my doing, and cars don't just set on fire, so it must have been a mechanical issue. "The insurance company are sending out an investigator to assess the car and find out what caused the fire."
A spokesperson for Spa Motors Hereford said: "We are currently corresponding with the customer in regards to the matter. "We have no further comment to make." A Ford spokesperson said: "The reasons for this incident would need to be investigated by the insurance company in the first instance.
"Ford is willing to support on third party investigations."