The 89-year-old mother of Romford MP Andrew Rosindell has spoken of the “shocking” moment she was pulled by strangers from her burning car on the A127 in Harold Wood.

Eileen Rosindell was driving along the busy main road during rush hour on Friday when she noticed the car stuttering and stalling, and eventually pulled into a lay-by near Belgrave Avenue.

“Then two ladies and a man came rushing over, opened my car door and said ‘just run’,” she said.

“And we ran about 100 yards down the road and I looked back and my car was on fire underneath.”

Firefighters and police were then called to the scene and quickly got the blaze under control, but the incident - at around 4pm - caused delays on the A127 into the evening.

Mrs Rosindell added: “I was shocked. I was sitting in the car when it was burning underneath.

“I did see a slight bit of smoke but I thought it was from another car.

“Luckily they came along and saved me - I’m very grateful!”

Mrs Rosindell also reserved praise for staff in the Honda car garage near to where she broke down, where she was offered tea and waited while emergency services dealt with the incident.

The shock of the fire has put the elderly mother of Romford’s long-standing MP off driving for good.

Son Mr Rosindell said: “It was quite a traumatic thing to happen. The thing was she did not realise her car was on fire.

People were driving past her tooting and she didn’t know why.”

He added he had spoken to the individuals who came to her aid and thanked them personally.

“It was really a pretty horrific incident,” he said.

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