Lucky escape after St John’s Wood lorry fire

Residents and driver are unhurt as a delivery lorry is destroyed by fire

RESIDENTS in St John’s Wood had a lucky escape on Tuesday morning when a lorry burst into flames in the street outside a block of flats.

The delivery lorry, full of white goods, was engulfed with flames on Allitsen Road as the fire tore through its roof and threatened to spread to nearby flats.

While no one was hurt as a result of the accident, the vehicle and its contents were completely destroyed, and windows were cracked by the heat from the fire, which could be seen half a mile away.

John Curtis, who lives in a flat directly overlooking the lorry, said: “I was drying my hair but I could hear some noise outside.

“I went to the window and it was really hot to touch and it stank.

“The flames were coming out of the top of the truck and it all looked a bit hairy.

“There was a chance it could have come through the windows but luckily the firefighters put it out very quickly.”

It is believed the fire started following an electrical fault in the driver’s cabin which then spread to the back of the lorry.

The driver and passenger managed to escape the lorry before the fire took full hold and police quickly closed nearby roads.

The fire brigade confirmed they were called at 8.45am before taking 45 minutes to get the fire under control.