WEST Wellow residents are demanding safety barriers alongside the A36 after a car spun off the road and burst into flames near their homes.

In the early hours of Friday morning, an Audi A4 left the road, hit a tree and then exploded in a fireball, north of the Red Rover pub. A garden fence at a nearby house was consumed by the flames.

Pet rabbits in another garden had a lucky escape as the fire spread and the owner was told to move them for their own safety. Resident Alan Clark, who has logged dozens of smashes along the notorious road - dubbed Death Valley by some - said people's lives were being put at risk.

"In my 20 years living here, this is the second crash directly threatening our properties. The last one actually entered the garden of number 37," he said.

"It is also the second fireball I have witnessed at the rear of our properties."

Mr Clark, a long-time campaigner for safety improvements, said there were four crashes on a half-mile stretch of the A36 last week.

The A36 Residents' Committee will shortly be demanding the placement of safety barriers along the West Wellow section - where homes and their families have been endangered by vehicles crashing and leaving the road.

"Children are now scared to play in their gardens because of the worry of a car crashing through," he said. "Why is there no protection for residents and their properties on this lethal road, where crashes are a weekly event?"

He said measures aimed at improving safety had not worked. Alan was woken up by the noise of the latest crash. He said: "I was in bed when I heard a huge bang. I looked out of my rear bedroom window and could see flashing lights from the road

"I got up and went to the rear of my garden and saw that fencing that separates our (his and neighbours') properties from the A36 was burning. I could see a car had crashed into a tree and was burning and making hissing noises. I immediately thought there could be an explosion and called the fire brigade."

After calling the emergency services Alan went to the scene.

The car was now burning more fiercely and impossible to approach. I was very concerned that the car would explode and the fire could endanger properties," he said.

"As a result I returned to my house, moved my children away from their rear- facing bedrooms in case there was an explosion. I also awoke the neighbours to advise them of the danger. Around this time, I heard an explosion from the car which I presumed was the petrol tank going up."

Later, Alan returned to the scene, where he discovered the emergency services had put up barriers to stop the public getting too close.

"We were advised to keep away as there would be run- off of chemicals," added Alan.

A Hampshire Ambulance Service spokeswoman said paramedics treated the unnamed car driver at the scene for back and facial injuries and he was taken to Southampton General Hospital for further treatment.

Mr Clark's neighbours, Mark and Philippa Luckhurst, said Alan was the hero of the night.

"Alan stopped our shed going up in flames. He played a hosepipe on the shed. Our rabbits were only about five feet away from it and they would have perished if it had gone up in flames. The fireman said there was a real danger of an explosion because of paint and inflammables inside the shed. Alan was really great," said Philippa.

The couple added: "Had it not been for the oak tree at the end of our garden, which stopped the car and had Alan not been such a light sleeper, the incident would have been infinitely worse.

"Unfortunately, we have lost our panel fencing and our mature hedge, which provided privacy has been badly burnt.

"We have three young children and it is imperative that crash barriers are now installed along the side of the road so that we may feel protected from a repetition of this accident with perhaps more tragic circumstances."

Philippa and Mark have written to the Highways Agency, which is responsible for the A36, and Hampshire's road chief about their concerns.