Two window cleaners had an eventful journey to work when their van burst into flames outside a school.

Jordan Murray and Steven Gumbrell stopped outside Cardinal Newman School in Hove yesterday morning (December 17) when they smelt burning coming from the heater.

Soon flames began shooting through the heater ducts and into the cab.

The two window cleaners tried to battle the blaze with buckets of water from the back of their van but had to step back as the fire spread out of control.

Shocked children on their way to school watched as the front of the van was consumed by flame.

Mr Murray said: “We were quite shocked to say the least.

“We tried to fight it because we’re window cleaners and we had plenty of water, but we gave up after a while.

“We’re just lucky the fire didn’t spread to the engine or it could have been a lot worse.”

Firefighters soon extinguished the blaze but the van was completely destroyed.

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