A FAMILY whose car blew up in their drive as they slept have described the explosion as being like a bomb.

Their black Mercedes CLK 200 was in front of their home in Exeter Road, South Harrow in the early hours of Tuesday when a fire broke out, igniting the fuel tank.

Speaking to The Harrow Observer hours later, George McKenzie, 57, said: "I parked my car at 8.30 last night and at about quarter to five this morning I heard a bang.

"When I looked out of the window, the car was in flames.

"I ran for my life. I got my wife and my son and ran out into the garden and a couple of minutes later the fire brigade turned up and put the fire out.

"After that they started their investigation and told me that it was an electrical fault.

"The car is completely burnt out and the sheer heat has broken three panes of glass in the front window of the house."

Mr McKenzie's wife Joyce said of the wreckage: "It's like something from Iraq. People are driving past and stopping to ask if we're all right."

The couple are now looking to the car's manufacturer to explain why the electrics in the vehicle, which had an 05 plate and had been owned by Mr McKenzie for eight months, apparently suddenly caught fire.