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In CCTV footage, Lee Roberts, 33, can be seen running to safety when flames suddenly rose from a a salvage pit he was working in.

As he drained fuel from underneath a van, the natural force surrounded the worker from Wigan causing him to escape the near-death experience.

Lee suffered 22 per cent burns to his hands, legs and nose from the flames and he was placed in a medically induced coma.

The ordeal has now put Lee out of work since the incident on 22 July 2010.

Lee talked about the incident and how he still "suffers flashbacks".

He said: "I still remember the noise of the petrol fumes igniting and a wave of blue flames engulfing the pit. The pain was instant and intense.

"They put me into an induced coma to stop the pain, and it was at least a couple of days later when I came around. When I woke up, I could feel the pain immediately.

"Even now, more than three years later, I still suffer flashbacks that cause me to wake in the middle of the night in a cold sweat.

"I haven't been able to work since the accident and feel that I no longer want to be a car dismantler - the only trade I have ever known."

Investigators chose to look into Lee's previous employer Douglas Valley Breakers Ltd's workshop in Coppull, Lancashire, where the accident happened.

A whole host of health and safety issues were stumbled upon by the Health and Safety executive (HSE) and boss Jason Miller and Stephen Strange were fined £40,000 plus costs of £25,000.

The company, that regularly removes parts of cars from old vehicles so they can be scrapped, had employees like Lee puncturing the fuel tank so that fuel could drain into a floor of the pit.

It was believed a spark from the Lee's electric drill set the fuel from the van alight.

The HSE ruled the firm should never have allowed the fuel to be drained this way.

HSE Inspector David Myrtle said: "Lee suffered severe burns as a result of this incident but he was very lucky not to have been killed.

"Douglas Valley Breakers was guilty of several serious safety breaches. It failed to properly consider the risks its employees faced while removing fuel from vehicles, or to do anything about them.

"The company allowed workers to stand in a pit surrounded by fuel vapours where just one spark from electric equipment could start a fire.

"If the fuel had been removed in a well-ventilated area, or even outside, without any ignition sources nearby then the severe burns Lee suffered could have been avoided."