A mum who was travelling with her young children has spoken of the terrifying moment her car set alight.

Iram Mahmood was driving home with her children, a 6-year-old and a 9-month-old baby, in Brownhill, Blackburn.

She said smoke started to seep though the air vents and then the car set alight.

“I saw smoke coming in through the heater vents. I quickly pulled up and got my kids out. I was only two minutes from my home but didn’t want to take any risks going any further.

“I rang my husband and informed him the car is smoking and we’re on the street. He arrived within minutes and when he arrived the car was already a blaze.”

The family took refuge in Brownhill Chippy on Whalley New Road and locals did attempt to put the fire out with a fire extinguisher on Wednesday December 21.

Iram said: “Everyone nearby was quite helpful.

“When I came out I saw my car on fire. It was very upsetting for me and my son to see. The fire brigade were called and they put the fire out.

“We contacted the insurance who recovered the car.

“There’s was nothing left of my car or my belongings.”

The car was gutted and the interior was heavily fire damaged due to the intensity of the fire Iram said she later learned that the issue of the car setting alight by itself had been raised.

She added: “What’s made me angry is I don’t know what the cause was.

“I have since found that this is has been raised before with Vauxhall to the extent that there has even been a watchdog documentary on the issue and it doesn’t look like anything has been done about it.”

Iram said she had never been approached to have the vehicle checked by Vauxhall as hers was 2013 model.

A 2016 investigation by the BBC Watchdog examined 10 Corsas and found three posed a fire risk. The show was said to have found degradation in the heater wiring that may have been the cause for these fires.

Vauxhall had released a statement at the time following an investigation.

It read: “Vauxhall Corsa D is one of our most popular models, with over 700,000 sold in the UK between 2006 and 2014.

“Earlier this year we identified a potential fire related issue with a specific Corsa D variant equipped with the 1.4 Turbo petrol engine. Nine cases had previously been reported to us, which we investigated. Two of these cases had resulted in a fire.

“A safety recall to address this issue was initiated in April 2016 for the 2,767 vehicles affected.

“Vauxhall is not aware of a fire risk to any other variant of Corsa D. Fires can occur in all makes of cars and it is important that thorough investigations are carried out before determining if there is a manufacturing defect that can relate to fire.”