Parking officer acts flamin' quickly

Vincent Maffey looks under the bonnet of his car with firefighters in Moray Pl yesterday. Photo / Otago Daily Times / Gregor Richardson

It seems parking officers don't just give out infringement notices. They moonlight as heroes, too.

Vincent Maffey (80) was saved by the quick thinking of a Dunedin City Council parking officer after the car he was driving caught fire yesterday.

The Dunedin man was driving in Moray Pl when flames appeared from the underside of his 1985 Mitsubishi Mirage.

Mr Maffey said he had no idea his car was on fire until the parking officer, who declined to be identified, waved him down and put out the flames.

"He must have seen the flames coming up under the car,'' Mr Maffey said.

"I opened the bonnet and saw it was burning.''

Firefighters assessed the vehicle and Mr Maffey rang AA to have it removed.

"It was [caused] by some sort of fuel leak,'' the owner said.

He had owned the car for 25 years and had never had anything like this happen before.

Employees from a nearby office helped the parking officer put out the fire.

"I saw him coming through the intersection with flames underneath and turned around and let him know,'' the officer said.

"The TAB were kind enough to lend us a fire extinguisher so we could put it out.''

He agreed it was his good deed for the day.