VETS at a Chepstow practice leant a hand when a local man’s van caught fire on Friday (February 23), leaving him, his young son and their puppy stranded.

Paige Hunter, veterinary surgeon at Marlow Vets, said; “We overlook the High Beech roundabout (also known as Larkfield roundabout) and we were working in our prep room when we noticed that it was getting quite smoky outside. We decided to go and have a look and we saw that the van was on fire and that the driver had a young child and a pet carrier with him.

“We shouted over our fence for him to pass us the pet carrier and realised it had a cocker spaniel puppy inside. The man, who was called Ben, told us the van was playing up as he was heading up the link road so he stopped and got everyone out. He had his little boy Harvey and the puppy, called Holly, with him.

“The fire service arrived within five minutes and we kept the puppy entertained and gave Harvey a tour of the practice while Ben dealt with them and with the police.

“The ironic thing is that Ben said he runs a window cleaning business and he had a tank of water and a hosepipe in the back of the van.”

A spokesperson for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service said: “At 17.51 on Friday we attended a van fire at the Larkfield roundabout. Crews extinguished it using two hose reel jets and one breathing apparatus. Police arrived on the scene two minutes after we did.”