A gas engineer has spoken of his shock at having to escape from his van seconds before it went up in flames, destroying £4,000 worth of tools and taking away his livelihood.
Elliot Murray, who was made redundant after the coronavirus pandemic hit, decided to go alone and ploughed his savings into purchasing a van and some tools to add to his collection which he has built up over the course of ten years.
On Tuesday, May 19, at around 12.30pm, the 27-year-old had visited suppliers, and was travelling along the A472 Pontllanfraith in his Ford Transit Connect on his way to a school he was subcontracted to do work at.
All of a sudden, he noticed smoke “coming through the blowers”, and went to apply the brake, and then the clutch, but both snapped.
Luckily, he was able to navigate to a stop on a kerb by using his handbrake, and then jumped out of the vehicle seconds before flames began leaping from the bonnet.
“I was in shock,” Mr Murray said.
“I didn’t know what to think. I automatically thought about my tools in the back. I’ve had to work ten years to build up all of those tools from being an apprentice until now, and they were all wiped out. There was £4,000 worth.
“I called the fire brigade and I just stood there, watching my van go up in flames. What runs through your head is how are you going to make money, how are you going to get by.
“I’m really gutted. I got made redundant so I spent my savings and got a van and bought some more tools to go it alone, and then this happens.”
Discussing his thoughts on narrowly avoiding being inside the van when the flames took hold, Mr Murray added that it had “run through his mind quite a lot”.
“I could have been engulfed in flames,” he said.
“I’m one of those people who thinks life is more precious than a van and tools. At the end of the day I’m glad to be alive and have my family around me.”
Firefighters arrived five to ten minutes after the call was made by Mr Murray and doused the flames, but the temperature of the van was so hot it could not be removed from the scene until today.
Mr Murray, who lives at Ridgewood Gardens in Cimla with his fiancé Kate Harris and her parents, said the double blow of his redundancy and the fire came at a time when he and Miss Harris, a student nurse for the NHS, had been planning on buying their own house, and were currently making wedding plans.
He was still working to replenish the funds from his savings he had invested to get his self-employed business up and running.
Since the incident, Miss Harris has started a fundraising page telling her fiancé’s story, and asking people to donate anything they can towards new tools.
And the response has been overwhelming, as more than £2,000 has been raised in less than a day.
If you would like to donate towards the fund, click here
What to do in the event of a car fire:
“It’s unbelievable,” Mr Murray said.
“You never really know what people think of you, and to see that much raised in such a short period of time was amazing.
“My family and friends have really pulled me up. When I was made redundant I was so down in the dumps and depressed, and this on top really added to it.
“I would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped out. People know what it's like to lose everything in trade like this. It is your livelihood.
“It does make you think the world is a better place when you’ve been put down so much and everyone sticks together.”
A spokesman for South Wales Fire Service said: "At approximately 12.38pm on Tuesday, May 19, we received reports of a vehicle fire on the A472 Pontllanfraith.
"A crew from Aberbargoed attended the scene and extinguished the fire.
"A stop message was received at 1.09pm."
