Teenager's first car up in smoke

5:00pm Friday 7th November 2008

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A TEENAGER’S car went up in flames after yobs threw a firework underneath it.

Emma Wilson, 18, from Hawkwell, was in tears after her black Peugeot 206 was left a charred wreck on Wednesday evening.

Miss Wilson’s car which was bought for about £2,000 a year ago, was parked in a cul-de-sac, Englefield Close, opposite her home in Rectory Road The Zinc nightclub worker said: “It was horrible, I was crying because it was my first car. I hate fireworks anyway.

“It might be difficult to get all my money back from the insurance company and I can’t afford a new one.

“It’s so annoying. Why would somebody do that to me?

Miss Wilson’s sister Lisa, who lives nearby, heard a bang at about 10.45pm and saw the vehicle smoking, before it was quickly consumed by fire.

A crew from Rochford fire station arrived and spent half an hour battling the blaze.

A woman driver said she saw some people around the car, but she drove off without providing a statement to the police.

The next morning, Emma’s dad Stuart found a charred firework under the car and another nearby.

Brother Lloyd, 21, added: “We’d just like to hear from anyone with information about what happened.”

Essex Police spokesman Alan Jones said officers were investigating the incident.

In another firework-related incident, Samuel Wornham was stunned to discover a rocket had shattered a glass-topped table in the back garden of his home in Tudor Road, Eastwood.

The table was worth about £80.

Mr Wornham said: “The glass had absolutely disintegrated. I was amazed when I saw it.

“I’m not against fireworks, but if this object had hit a child it could have been very serious.”

Anyone with information on the car fire should call Essex Police on 0300 3334444.