Driver flees as £215,000 McLaren supercar bursts into flames

This is the dramatic moment a driver had to escape from their McLaren supercar after it became engulfed in flames.

These images, taken by a passerby, shows the 650S Spider — at £215,000 one of the most expensive cars in the world — catching fire down a country road in Lincoln.

Incredibly, the motorist was seen returning to the car to retrieve her shopping — and then escaping unscathed.

Fire crews rushed to the scene at 12.20 on Sunday on Blyth Road.

By the time the blaze was extinguished, however, the car had been virtually destroyed, with most of the bodywork having melted away.

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The photographs were taken by Becky Gagen, 45, who was travelling to a pub for Sunday lunch with her husband John, 59, and their son Tom, 10, when they spotted the car engulfed in flames.

“We came across it by accident, really,” she said.

“We could see black smoke in the distance, and as we turned around the corner there was a blazing McLaren right in front of us.

“There was a female driver at the side of the road on the phone – I suspect to her partner.

“What made us laugh was the fact that she’d got her shopping out of the car and emptied it – making sure that dinner was in the bag was obviously her first priority.

“She shouted at us to stay away as it had a full tank of petrol and could have exploded at any moment.”

A spokesperson for Nottinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service said: “Firefighters from Harworth Fire Station were called to a car fire on Blyth Road, near to Blyth at 12.13pm on 19 February.

“One hose reel jet, two breathing apparatus and a dry powder fire extinguisher were used to put out the fire, and the incident had been dealt with by 12.48pm.”