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Raymond and Barbara Massey had a lucky escape after his convertible sports car burst into flames as he drove his wife to their anniversary dinner near Bolton, Greater Manchester. See Ross Parry story RPYFIRE;A motorist had a lucky escape after his convertible sports car burst into flames as he drove his wife to their ANNIVERSARY dinner. Raymond Massey, 77, managed to pull his wife, Barbara, who uses a wheelchair after suffering a stroke 18-months-ago, to safety after being alerted to the fire by a passerby. Stunned witnesses described an âenormous explosion like a bomb had gone offâ after noticing flames on the road and smoke coming from the bonnet of the car. The couple miraculously managed to avoid serious injury after the engine of the blue BMW 3 Series set on fire, which they blame on hitting two POTHOLES. Crews rushed to the scene and spent an hour tackling the fire in Bolton, Greater Mancs., at around 5.30pm on Sunday. (SWNS)
It wasn’t the anniversary they had planned, but it’s one they’ll never forget.
Raymond Massey, 77, and his wheelchair-bound wife Barbara were on their way to dinner to celebrate their second wedding anniversary on Sunday when the BMW 3-Series convertible they were in caught fire.
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Raymond Massey and his wife Barbara were celebrating their second wedding anniversary. (SWNS)
The couple were riding along a country road in Bolton, U.K., when a woman waved them down and told them there were flames under the car. Massey stopped, quickly got out and pulled his wife from the vehicle, then grabbed her wheelchair and pushed her to safety.
"You have no time to be shocked, we just had to get away from it,” he said.
Witnesses told SWNS that the car burst into flames soon after in an “enormous explosion like a bomb had gone off.” The entire front end of the drop-top was destroyed in the ensuing inferno.
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Massey purchased the car just two weeks earlier for $3,500 (SWNS)
Massey had purchased the used fourth-generation 3-Series just two weeks earlier for around $3,500, but said it ran fine. After seeing a trail of gasoline behind the car, he suspects something got knocked loose when he hit two potholes earlier in the evening.
His son-in-law, David Murray, works for BMW and said he thought the fire could have been caused by a leak in the engine bay.
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Massey's son-in-law, a BMW employee, suspects there was a leak in the engine bay. (SWNS)
Fortunately the Masseys were uninjured in the incident, and still managed to have a celebratory dinner, just not at the restaurant.
“Instead of going out for the meal we ended up going home and having a corn beef sandwich," Massey said.