Watch: Father’s £29,000 truck erupts into fireball after exploding on motorway

A Ford Ranger pick-up truck exploded into a fireball while driving on a busy motorway .

Daniel Adkins, 40, was driving on the M5 with his stepdad and younger brother in the £29,000 truck when the vehicle spluttered into "limp home mode".

Mr Adkins managed to manoeuvre onto the hard shoulder to allow all three men to exit the car seconds before it was engulfed in flames.

Footage shows the vehicle fully ablaze with fire and smoke billowing across three-lanes of the packed motorway .

Mr Adkins, an electrical engineer from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, said he was driving along the M5 at the 50mph limit when it "suddenly felt like" the truck had a "mechanical failure".

"It seemed to lurch into limp home mode and I noticed smoke coming from the bonnet," he said.

"I managed to pull across two lanes and onto the hard shoulder when we noticed the flames.

"I've never know anything like it. The heat from the flames was really intense.

"If we'd been inside much longer we'd have struggled to get out when we did."

Mr Adkins was on his way to work at the Heineken factory in Hereford with his stepdad Alfred, 68, and brother George, 18, at the time of the explosion.

Nobody was injured in the incident.

Mr Adkins, who also runs his own electrical contracting business, paid £29,000 for the 2021 registered Ford on Sept 10, making it still under warranty.

"It just went up in no time and it started banging," he added.

"You do not ever think it would happen to you – it was really surreal.

"After the state of shock, it is hard to take in."

Two lanes at junction six near Worcester were closed for hours while firefighters tackled the blaze.

Mr Adkins said Spa Motors Hereford, who sold him the car, told him to go through his insurance regarding the incident.

"It was not my doing and cars don't just set on fire so it must have been a mechanical issue," Mr Adkins said.

"The insurance company are sending out an investigator to assess the car and find out what caused the fire."

A spokesman for Spa Motors Hereford said: "We are currently corresponding with the customer in regards to the matter.

"We have no further comment to make."

A Ford spokesman said: "The reasons for this incident would need to be investigated by the insurance company in the first instance.

"Ford is willing to support on third party investigations."