United States tourist battles fire at Oxfordshire Tesco

Darren Fleming, a 61-year-old software engineer from Illinois, was two-weeks into his trip when the car alongside him at the Abingdon Tesco petrol station, off Marcham Road, burst into flames.

He, his uncle and another pedestrian then fought the blaze, wearing out a number of fire extinguishers as they did so.

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At around 8.30am this morning (Saturday, May 30), Alan Mutton – a 74-year-old retired publisher from Kennington, Oxfordshire – and his nephew Mr Fleming were looking at a 1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am muscle car.

“We were admiring it because it is an American car,” said Mr Fleming, “and when the young man driving started it, it just burst into flames”.

1979 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am muscle car at the petrol station (Image: Darren Fleming)

He added: “Then the kid driving it jumped out on fire and ran in front of our car.”

Ambulances were seen at the petrol station and the driver – whose identity is unknown – had some burns on his legs according to Mr Fleming.

He was taken to the Tesco superstore for immediate first aid.

After the initial shock, Mr Mutton drove his car – which was next to the Pontiac – away from the fire and then the duo, and a motorcyclist also at the petrol station, ran to get some extinguishers to battle the flames on the car.

Alan Mutton (pictured) tackles the fire at an Oxfordshire Tesco petrol station with nephew Darren Fleming and a motorcyclist (Image: Darren Fleming)

“Initially it looked kind of small, isolated around the engine, but it got large quite fast,” said Mr Fleming, who added that once he realised the danger he “quit being a tourist” and helped out.

He said: “We emptied about eight fire extinguishers onto it.”

Mr Mutton added: “It reignited a couple of times but luckily we got it out and the Tesco staff were really good organising people and blocking traffic coming into the fuel station.

“As you can see, myself, Darren and the other guy had to get pretty close to put the fire out.”

The Oxfordshire local had been given some small fire training, acting as a fire warden when he was a publisher, but said that he and the other two just focused on the job at hand.

Fire engines and other emergency vehicles raced to the petrol station (Image: Unattributed)

“We were just intent doing the job and putting the fire out,” he said, “it was just something I did on instinct from the past”.

He added: “I knew I had to get the extinguisher down to the seat of the flame and keep hitting the flame until it was out.”

Multiple fire crews and police would later turn up at the scene, although neither Mr Mutton nor Mr Fleming were sure when that happened.

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The petrol station was closed, and Tesco have not yet clarified when it might be reopened.

The uncle and nephew had stopped off at the petrol station that morning as Mr Mutton is taking Mr Fleming and his wife to the Chiltern Hills and Henley for a visit.

Mr Fleming said: “We started out this morning quite exciting; it got a couple of old guys’ blood flowing.”