SHOPPERS had a shock when a parked car went up in flames outside a supermarket.

Firefighters are investigating the cause of the blaze in the Lidl car park in Bulwark, Chepstow, just after 2pm today, including that gas escaping from a manhole cover could have ignited.

Eye witness Robin James was at his Fairways furnishing store opposite the car park when he saw fire and smoke.

"I dashed across and there was this empty car going up in flames," he said. "The engine and the front of the car were totally on fire and it had set the hedge ablaze beside it.

"It was pretty dramatic, with thick black smoke and it’s lucky no one was inside when it went up.

"The fire engine was there in about a minute and extinguished it very quickly. They wnet and had a look at some manholes after someone said the gas supply made have burst through."