A Northamptonshire family were forced to grab their newborn puppies and flee from their home when their electric car exploded without warning – several hours after parking up outside their village home.
Georgina Bayliss, 49, and her husband Scott, 47, were getting ready for an early night when they were alerted by their eldest son James, 17– who had heard a loud explosion and spotted flames from his first-floor bedroom window.
Within seconds, 20-foot flames had engulfed the driveway and the entire front of their Spratton home. The family were forced to escape out of the back of their house and run for their lives, with villagers quickly flocking to help.
Georgina said: “It all happened in seconds. We are lucky to have got out safely, for our house to still be standing and to all be here in one piece. When we saw the flames, we grabbed the puppies, and we ran out the back door. Scott grabbed one hose pipe, our son James a second and our neighbour did the same – we wanted to stop the fire from ripping through our home.
“The next thing I saw was our youngest son Adam, who has a job in the local pub, running up the lane towards our house. The look on his face is something that will forever haunt me forever. He thought we were still inside.”
Scott added: “We are in shock. People keep telling us how lucky we are but it doesn’t feel like that. The car had been parked up since 11.30am that morning. It was not charging and there was no sign anything was wrong – and then within seconds we were grabbing our labrador and her four puppies racing out the back of the house to safety.”
Scott and son James used hosepipes to try and contain the flames ahead of the arrival of two fire engines with a full crew.
It is two weeks since the explosion and for now the Bayliss family are grappling with anxiety and shock.
Neighbour Annie Gilbride, a primary school assistant, said: “The explosion rang through the village and very quickly people were running down High Street to see what was happening. I pulled on my dressing gown, grabbed the garden hose pipe and passed it to our neighbour to help.
“We took the puppies, who are only a few weeks old, inside to escape the noise, heat and smoke and my husband helped to clear the street and usher people away from danger. We joined Scott to try and keep the flames under control while they waited for the fire crew. It’s amazing no one was hurt and that further properties weren’t destroyed.”
Scott added: “The fire fighters told us we were minutes from losing our home. They eventually decided the safest option was to drag the car down the driveway using the fire engine due to the fear of constant reignition. This was a fear that didn’t leave us until someone could be found who was prepared to recover such a dangerous vehicle.
“We want to know how and why this happened. We don’t want anyone else to go through this. Our car was less than two years old, had only covered 28,000 miles, wasn’t on charge and seemingly explosively combusted all by itself. Investigations need to be done.”
