AN ELECTRICAL fault has been blamed for a fire which wrecked a man’s new car.

The blaze broke out in the early hours of Wednesday in Troedle, Ponciau and gutted the Ford Focus owned by Darren Hannaby.

The flames were so intense they quickly spread to a nearby SEAT, and that was also extensively damaged.

Mr Hannaby said: “The first I knew about it was around 2am when I had a telephone call from a neighbour saying my car was alight.”

He said he had only bought the car about six weeks ago and he needed it to get out and about visiting friends and family.

He added: “At present I am not working, so don’t think I will be able to afford to replace it. I don’t know what I’ll do about it.”

There was a lucky escape for one vehicle in the incident, belonging to John Jarvis of neighbouring Johnson Street.

His Fiat was parked on the right-hand side of Mr Hannaby’s Ford.

He said: “I think a breeze must have been blowing which took the flames away from my car.

“The fire service was here pretty quickly which was important because the blaze could have taken hold and caused even more damage than it did.”

Mr Hannaby said that just six months ago he had a VW Passat burnt out.

A spokesman for North Wales Fire Service said the blaze which gutted the Ford Focus was caused by an electrical fault.