A driver had a lucky escape when a lightning bolt struck his car and launched it into the air during last night's electrical storm.
The vehicle flipped onto its side and ploughed into a row of parked cars in the freak accident in Plumstead, south-east London.
Witnesses said the car was "smoking" after the bolt struck at about 11.30pm during the storm which lit up London's skyline yesterday.
Tyrone Hill, 23, a musician who records under the name Kid Bookie, was out in the street in Burrage Road watching the thunderstorm at the time.
"I honestly couldn't believe what I saw," he told the Standard.
"It was right outside my front door; a bolt of lightning strikes this car, it hit the car so much it went into other cars.
"The lightning flipped it into the air, I've never seen anything like it in my life, I just thought 'wow'.
"He definitely had a lucky escape. The car started smoking, we thought he was going to die."
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-partner="tweetdeck"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">Lightning just struck this car outside of my home and flipped it in the air! <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/thunder?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-12056-https://twitter.com/hashtag/thunder?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#thunder</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/lightning?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-12056-https://twitter.com/hashtag/lightning?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#lightning</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/naturesway?src=hash" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-12056-https://twitter.com/hashtag/naturesway?src=hash" data-vars-event-id="c23">#naturesway</a> <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://www.awin1.com/awclick.php?mid=9&id=222025&p=http://t.co/68q7JdTJ3g" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-12056-http://t.co/68q7JdTJ3g" data-vars-event-id="c23">pic.twitter.com/68q7JdTJ3g</a>— zoe jade saint (@Queenee_ZeZe) <a rel="nofollow" target="_blank" href="https://twitter.com/Queenee_ZeZe/status/617104789193818112" class="body-link" data-vars-item-name="BL-12056-https://twitter.com/Queenee_ZeZe/status/617104789193818112" data-vars-event-id="c23">July 3, 2015</a>
Mr Hill said he and others rushed to the driver's aid, helping him clamber out of the stricken vehicle.
He also offered a pair of socks to the man, who was barefoot having lost his flip-flops in the crash.
The motorist, in his 40s, escaped injury, though he was taken to a south London hospital as a precaution.
He was also arrested on suspicion of drink driving.
"His car was battered, it was battered worse than cod," Mr Hill added.
Police arrived shortly after 11.30pm and closed the road for about three hours.
Burrage Road resident Zoe Saint, 25, told the News Shopper: "When I arrived to the car I saw that it was smoking, other people were running towards to help, the back window had been smashed."
Ms Saint, who helped the man out of the car, added: "I asked the people who were there what they saw as they were also standing outside, they said they saw lightning hit and the car just went up in the air - they just saw the car flip."
A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "Police were called to reports of a car that had been struck by lightning as it drove in Burrage Road.
Electric storm in London
"Officers and London Ambulance Service attended and found the car, a silver Renault, on its side in the street.
"The driver of the car - a man believed aged in his 40s - was taken to a south London hospital as a precaution; he was not injured.
"The driver was also arrested on suspicion of drink driving."
