A MOTHER of two has spoken out about her ordeal after her car was written off by a fire.
Tara Devaney from Nuneaton was travelling along Coton Road with her partner Martin Ayres and her two young daughters when smoke began coming out of the dash board.
The family quickly got out and watched on in horror as firefighters came along to put out the electrical blaze in their Volkswagen Passat.
“I just want to let people know what happened,” said Tara, who lives in Bottrill Street.
“All of a sudden the car started filling up with smoke. We had my two-year- old daughter Kaci-Lei and eight-month-old Tia- Mae, in the car with us at the time. We just got the girls out to safety and then called the fire brigade to put it out.
“Both the man from AA and the firefighters said that within 60 seconds to two minutes, the car could have been in flames.”
The dental nurse, who works at Camp Hill Dental, had a new CD stereo fitted at the Nuneaton branch of Halfords two months before the blaze which occurred on May 18.
Halfords have admitted responsibility for the incident and have offered Tara Devaney and her family compensation.
A spokesperson for the well-known chain that specialises in bike and car products and their maintenance, apologised and added that what had happened was ‘very rare’.
“We are the country’s leading retailer of stereo units and our aim is to provide the highest standards of customer service,” said the spokesperson.
“We apologise to Mrs Devaney for her bad experience. We have provided compensation of over £1,000 for the vehicle and are discussing further compensation for loss of earnings.
“We apologise again but assure all customers that this was a very rare occurrence and hundreds of motorists each week love the service we give.”
