Firefighters were urgently called into action when a burning car filled with diesel drums and an oxygen canister was left on a busy residential street early this morning.

Fire engines from Harold Hill and Romford fire stations were called to Stratton Road at around 5am, where they spent three hours making the remains of the burning vehicle safe.

A spokesman for Harold Hill fire station told the Recorder: “We got called to a large car fire on an estate in Harold Hill. In the back of it there were nine drums of diesel, around 75 litres, and a 90kg canister of oxygen acetylene.

“Fortunately for everyone on the estate we were able to put it out before the car exploded.

“If we had been maybe 10 minutes later it would’ve been a very different story.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation, but at this early stage the fire brigade does not believe the fire was started deliberately.

“We don’t know if they had been attempting to siphon diesel out of cars, but it appeared to be accidental – if it was deliberate it was a very poor job because there was diesel everywhere and that doesn’t go up too quickly,” the firefighter added.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman confirmed they were called to reports of a vehicle on fire in Stratton Road at 4.55am.

Parts of the road were closed temporarily while the authorities put out the fire and made the area safe.