A US motorist scared of spiders gave himself a shock when he accidentally set a petrol station on fire while trying to get rid of an arachnid using a cigarette lighter.
The man told authorities he saw a spider on his fuel tank as he went to fill up and unwisely decided to use a lighter to remove it.
Video footage from the gas station in the city of Center Line, Michigan, shows the man's horror as he realises what has happened, and flames quickly envelope the pump and, presumably, the spider.
A fuel station employee told US news channel Fox 2 on Friday: “He didn’t have a cigarette. He didn’t have anything on him. All of a sudden I look out and I see flames.”
The driver redeemed himself by grabbing a fire extinguisher and quickly putting out the fire as staff cut off the fuel supply to that pump and called firefighters during the incident earlier in the week.
The fire destroyed the gas pump, though the motorist’s vehicle suffered little damage.
Agencies / The Guardian