This is the astonishing moment bystanders desperately tried to stop a runaway burning car as it rolled towards a busy north London high street.

Driver Karla Mitchell had stopped the red convertible Ford KA at traffic lights in Walthamstow when it suddenly burst into flames.

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The 42-year-old was travelling with a friend and his miniature Yorkshire terrier at the time.

All three managing to escape the vehicle but were unable to put on the handbrake, causing the flaming car to start rolling from Church Hill towards busy Hoe Street.

Mitchell told the Evening Standard how men then "appeared from everywhere", chasing the car down the road and using signs from nearby road works to wedge it still.

Dramatic footage of the incident on Tuesday afternoon (12 September) was posted online and initially shows the burning car on fire and billowing black smoke as it sat stationary at the side of the road.

The charred vehicle can then be seen slowly rolling down the road, prompting a bystander to throw a road sign under its wheels in an attempt to stop it.

"Bystanders managed to stop the car, thankfully," Mitchell said. "It was flying down towards the junction with Hoe Street, it's a really busy road. I dread to think what would have happened if it had got down there."

Mitchell, who reportedly suffers from agoraphobia, added: "Being in a car is the only way I can get out so it was very traumatic.

"I can't stop shaking, I can't sleep."

Ebru Ozz, who filmed the video, said she was walking home from work when she saw the vehicle and the "shaken" driver.

"People were trying to obstruct the car from moving but it all happened within seconds so not sure what had caused the car to flame up," she said. "Emergency services were at the scene within minutes but as far as I know the driver is fine and no one was injured."

A spokeswoman for the London Fire Brigade said crews were called to Hoe Street at around 4.30pm on Tuesday.

"Two people had left the vehicle before crews arrived," she said. "One woman was treated for shock by crews and left in the care of London's ambulance service."

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