A high-vis hero leapt out onto the county's busiest road to stop a smoke-filled van's engine exploding.

Phil Robinson, 45, from Hassocks was heading eastbound on the A27 near the Shoreham bypass when he spotted a van erupting in a plume of smoke on Monday morning.

The Brighton AA patrol stopped his rescue vehicle and ran through the smoke to stall the van which was revving uncontrollably due to a turbo failure.

 

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Mr Robinson said: “I saw this huge cloud of smoke, well it was more like a wall of smoke really, and spotted it was coming from a van parked up on the grass verge just off the hard shoulder - I knew instantly what was wrong with it.

“I jumped out of my van and started running towards the van and I spotted the driver who waved his keys at me.

“I could hear the engine screaming so I grabbed the keys, ran to the van and got in to stall it.

“I can't really remember much about the incident, the smoke really thick but I didn't pay much attention to it.”

Turbo failure means the engine begins to run on its own oil and the only way to stop the engine is by stalling it.

Mr Robinson added: “If it was left to carry on running it would have either run out of oil or it would have blown to bits.

“It was becoming a real problem for the traffic too because the smoke was so thick it had spread across the road and people weren't able to see.

“When you've been doing the job for 26 years like I have, you can sometimes tell from a distance what the problem is, and seeing as I was passing I just stopped and helped to do my bit for the environment.

“I think it's our duty to help if we can see a health hazard.”

He added: “My advice for anyone caught in a tricky position like that would be to stall the engine quickly by putting into a high gear and taking your foot off the brake.”

The whole incident was caught on the AA's onboard Dash-Cam, and has since been uploaded to YouTube.

An AA spokesman said: “He acted instinctively and saved the day, so thankfully he was passing at the right time.

“A lot of people wouldn't know what to do, but Phil stopped a very likely accident.”