A MAN was lucky to escape serious injury when petrol ignited in his kitchen and set it on fire this morning.

The middle-aged man parks his scooter in the hallway of his home at Ravensknowle Road, Moldgreen.

At 5.45am, he realised the petrol tank had expanded and he tried to dispose of some of the fuel in the kitchen.

But the oven ring was on and heat from it ignited the vapours, setting the kitchen on fire.

Leading firefighter Warren Ellison, of Huddersfield fire station, said: "The kitchen was badly damaged and the house was filled with smoke, but the man was very lucky not to be burned.

"Petrol is exceptionally dangerous as the liquid is surrounded by vapours which can easily be ignited."

The incident came on the day fire chiefs urged people never to use petrol while tackling jobs in the garden.

In the last two weeks fire crews have attended several incidents in West Yorkshire caused by people using petrol to burn garden rubbish.