A COUPLE'S car caught fire on the way to their anniversary dinner. 

Raymond Massey and his wife Barbara were driving along Longshaw Ford Road when a woman began waving at them to stop. 

Mr Massey, aged 77, stopped the blue BMW convertible just before the junction with Scout Road and realised his car's engine was on fire. 

Mr Massey, a retired engineer and market trader, said: "We didn't know it was on fire. We were coming up the road and the lady was coming down it and she saw it was on fire. 

"She was waving at us so we stopped. 

"There was a lot of smoke, I got out and pulled my wife out and put her in her wheelchair. Then I phoned my son-in-law."

Mr Massey said he had never been involved in anything like this before and said he did not have the time to be shocked when realised the engine was on fire. 

He said: "You have no time to be shocked, we just had to get away from it. 

"It was a good job we were on a hill because the petrol tank is at the back and it's got over half a tank. We had to get away, we were expecting it going up!"

Mr Massey said he did not know the name of the lady who helped him but said he was grateful to her.

Jenny Aldcroft, aged 37, of Higher Barn, Horwich, was the lady who helped Mr Massey out, she contacted The Bolton News after seeing the article on social media. 

Miss Aldcroft, a teacher and support worker at Bolton College, said: "I was on my way to Pendlebury's Farm and it's normally a very quiet road and I thought someone had just parked there. 

"I could see flames on the road under the car and they looked like they were just sat in it and there was smoke coming out of the bonnet. 

"I got out of my car and ran up and said 'you better get out your cars on fire'. 

"I wanted them to get out and stand quite far away from the car."

She said as they got up to Scout Road there was an 'enormous explosion like a bomb had gone off'.

Mr Massey's son-in-law David Murray works at Williams BMW, he thought the fire could have been caused by a leak in the engine. 

Mr Murray's friend, Louis Dawson of GRS Garage Services, was hoping to remove the car from the scene but said a different truck would need to be brought because of the extent of the damage to the car.

He said: "I won't be able to move it with my truck. 

"It's partly because of the location and because it's not rolling on four wheels, so it won't go on my bed. 

"It needs a tilt and slide to come out to pull it on and I'll assist with that."

The fire crew from Bolton fire station responded to the fire at about 5.30pm. 

The firefighters spent around an hour making the area safe. 

Crew manager Mark Hoare, said the fire had completely burnt out the engine compartment and part of the car was now stuck to the road.

Mr Hoare praised the passerby who had helped the couple.