GARDENER Mike Stillitoe had a lucky escape when a fireball erupted just yards from where he was weeding.
The 66-year-old said he could have been killed after the flames exploded out of the ground at a home in New Barn Lane, Cheltenham on Saturday.
It was caused by a high voltage electrical fault, just just 15 yards from where Mr Stillitoe was tending the garden.
The fault was one of the reasons for the latest power outage in the town, which cut off more than 11,000 homes.
Mike Sillitoe, 66, who lives in Alma Close, was weeding the patio at the front of the home at the time.
He said: "I had been there about 15 minutes and I heard a popping sound.
"I looked down the drive and, while I was looking, a huge ball of flame erupted from out of the tarmac.
"It was very fortunate that nobody was driving or walking near it.
"The flames didn't last long but I didn't hang about – I made myself scarce.
"It didn't last any longer than a few seconds, but the tarmac went flying.
"The flames blackened the wall nearby and set fire to the hedge.
"The flames, I would say, were about six feet high and about three feet wide. It was a plume of flames for a few seconds.
"If you had been above it, you would have been seriously burned."
Mr Sillitoe said the explosion was only a few metres away from the public footpath.
He said: "I do feel lucky – a couple of weeks before I had been cutting the hedge right above that particular area.
"It was only a few yards from the footpath and it was a nasty incident and not something you expect with power cuts.
"It could have killed someone that day, or at least caused serious injury."
A spokesperson for Western Power Distribution, which supplies electricity to homes across the Cheltenham area, said the fault on the underground cable had now been fully repaired and the spoil has been removed.
The utilities company said it had arranged for contractors to reinstate the driveway "to the customer's satisfaction" and hoped that this work would be completed by the end of the week.
A Western Power Distribution team manager will also contact the homeowners in the near future, once the work is completed, to discuss the issue of compensation.
The power company also confirmed that there had been a previous incident at the same location in May of this year which was fully repaired at the time.
But the power cut on Saturday was not related to the repair in May, they said.