A woman has told of the terrifying moment her car burst into flames just moments after dropping her two and a half-year-old grandson home.
The woman told RTE Liveline host Katie Hannon that she was heading to get a breakfast roll before doing some grocery shopping with her 17-year-old son when she noticed black smoke coming from underneath the bonnet.
In a panic, she pulled into a petrol station to get help before the car exploded on December 27th.
She said: "I was just after dropping home my two and half-year-old grandson back into his parent's house in town. It was about maybe quarter to ten in the morning, and my 17-year-old son was with me because I'd to do a little bit of grocery shopping in Tescos.
"We said we'd come by… to get a breakfast roll, and I was just coming up before there's an Usice warehouse and I could spell terrible burn in the car, and then all of this black billowing smoke came out of the bonnet, and a little bit of a fire started.
"So, thinking back now where I pulled in was ridiculous, it was stupid, it was the petrol station, but I did. I got a fright."
The woman and her son jumped out of the car and tried to get some help.
She said: "So my son got out of the passenger side. He's seventeen, and I don't know where he went. I ran into the shop, no one mask or nothing on, and there was two young people that were absolutely amazing.
"I was looking for a bucket of water, and I think it was the young fella who said that you actually can't put water on a fire in an engine. I didn't know."
The flames began getting bigger, so those in the shop had to exit via a side entrance.
She said: "We couldn't go out the front door then because the smoke was so bad the flames were getting worse, so we'd to go out a side door."
The woman had parked the car in between the petrol pumps and the entrance to the shop.
The caller said: "Thanks be to god, I can only remember two passersbys, one gentleman was on a motorbike, and I can only remember the other gentleman was wearing a red jacket and they pushed the car away from the petrol pumps just up a little bit further and then the car blew."
She added: "Thinking back on it now, I shouldn't have pulled in there, but I just got such a fright and panicked."
The woman got such a shock she collapsed onto the ground.
She said: "I don't remember ringing my friend, I don't remember ringing my son, whos the father of my grandson, or my brother. I have no recollection of those phone calls but do remember collapsing, and my hip and my back are still very sore since I had to go to the doctor then as well."
