A woman whose car burst into flames is reported to have taken ‘selfies’ in front of the blaze before calling the fire brigade.

The Vauxhall Zafira caught fire in Salisbury Hall Gardens in Chingford at around 4pm on Sunday, (November 8).

A passenger behind her saw the smoke billowing out of the car and watched the woman in her 20s pull over into a side street.

Zayannah Nimra said: “I got my husband to stop urgently because no-one was doing anything. I ran over to her and asked whether she had children in the back.

“She said no and started taking pictures of the fire and then selfies.

“It was bizarre, she was standing less than two metres away from all this fire just so she could get the right image.

“Eventually I had inhaled so many fumes that I said to my husband ‘let's just go’ and got back in the car.

“I don’t think people have any sense anymore. Maybe her English wasn’t very good or maybe she didn’t want to call the fire brigade for some reason but I was just left really confused."

Vauxhall has announced a recall of 220,000 Zafira B cars, following a series of fires starting behind the glove-box in the heating and ventilation system.

Later that same day another Zafira burst into flames outside Chingford Station.

The fire is being investigated by London Fire Brigade (LFB) and today a spokesman expressed concern at the behaviour of the woman.

He said: "If you smell smoke or burning coming from your car while you’re driving it you should pull up as soon as you can in a safe place, get everyone out of the vehicle and always stay a safe distance away.

"Then call the fire brigade and never go back to the vehicle while you’re waiting."