Well known Wexford broadcaster and his wife lucky to escape burning car

Jimmy Gahan, who is a broadcaster with South East Radio, and his wife, Dr Mairead Kelly, were travelling home from Kerry to Enniscorthy on Sunday evening, March 5, when their car began to lose power between New Ross and Enniscorthy, in an area called Pallas.

Speaking about the incident Mr Gahan said there was no prior indication throughout the journey that anything was wrong.

“Up to that point the car was running smoothly with no problem at all,” he said.

“It was running like a bird but then at Pallas it began to lose power and we pulled in,” he added.

When he and his wife opened the doors to get out of the car it immediately burst into flames.

The vehicle, a four-year-old BMW520 series, was completely destroyed and three units of Wexford fire service, two from New Ross and one from Enniscorthy, attended the scene.

"It just went up very quickly,” said Mr Gahan.

“We didn’t have time to retrieve anything from it, although Mairead did manage to get her handbag but that was it, whatever was in the car was burned to a crisp,” he added.

He also said they were thankful that the electric locking in the car didn’t engage because if it had they would not have been able to get out of the vehicle.

"We were very lucky in that regard because if the locks had engaged well we just wouldn’t have been able to get out,” he said.

The incident caused traffic disruption for around two-and-a-half hours as the emergency services worked to clear the burned out remains of the vehicle from the road.

“It was just the two of us and thankfully we got out ok but it was a frightening experience,” said Mr Gahan, who remarked on how quickly the car, which was a diesel, ignited.