THE owner of a £1million Cleveleys hotel said a mystery taxi driver saved her business from going up in flames.

Jakki Slack, co-owner of the Royal and Club Enigma on North Promenade, said that the cab driver -- who she was trying to trace -- had spotted a fire at the hotel as he drove by at around 5am on Tuesday and immediately called the fire service.

The fire, which began in an outside storage room next to the entrance to the hotel's Enigma nightclub, reached three floors up, with flames 20 feet high.

It caused severe damage to Enigma, totally burning out the ladies' toilets in the club and causing smoke damage to the rest of the club. Jakki said that upstairs in The Royal things were slightly smoke damaged.

"We were very lucky that the driver saw the flames and called Fleetwood fire brigade," she said. "The fire smashed the windows -- all the windows up three floors are cracked -- and the building is all black on the outside.

"And it's completely destroyed a 20 ft long lean-to. It was quite a fire. Nobody was hurt, but we were very, very lucky to get away with it," she said.

She said she wanted to trace the driver and offer him and his wife a free meal at the hotel's Windsor Grill to thank him for his prompt action. "I just want to find out who he is so I can personally thank him. Despite the damage to Club Enigma, Jakki said it will be open for business on Friday. A police spokesman said they were not treating the fire as suspicious.