A pensioner dashed through flames to rescue his car after lightning struck his garage.

Leo Cruttenden, 76, was in his house reading when he heard a massive crack of thunder nearby and rushed outside to find his lock-up burning.

Smoke was pouring out the door and cupboards were falling off the walls. But without thinking, Mr Cruttenden ran inside, jumped into his Audi Quattro and drove it out.

Mr Cruttenden, of Bunbury Close, in Storrington, said: "It had 16 gallons of petrol in it so I had to act quickly.

"I spent years in the Army and it would be a pretty poor show if I got scared off by a few crashes and bangs."

The drama arose during a fierce localised thunderstorm, which erupted over the Storrington area shortly after 4pm on Friday.

Mr Cruttenden said: "I was sitting reading and kept hearing lots of crashes of thunder. Then I heard this huge bang, as if someone had cracked a whip right by my ear.

"I ran outside and I could see the back of the car burning so I jumped in and drove it away."

Mr Cruttenden's wife Beryl, who had been out shopping, arrived a couple of minutes later to find her husband covered in soot and the garage ablaze.

She called the fire brigade, who arrived within ten minutes and managed to put out the fire before the flames reached the couple's house.

Despite the damage to his garage, Mr Cruttenden said: "We were lucky. The garage is a mess but if it had got the house it would have been a lot worse."

The couple lost a lot of belongings in the blaze, which gutted the garage.