THESE horror pictures show a Mercedes-Benz engulfed in flames just a short while after the car had been in for repairs.
Kevin Bull, 51, has been searching for the best part of a year for the perfect Mercedes E350 until he found a 2016 model which “ticked all his boxes”.
He bought it on March 16, 2024, paying £17,109, and it came with a year’s warranty.
But just eight days after it had been delivered to his home in Wideopen, North Tyneside, from Stratford-upon-Avon through the Mercedes-Benz approved used network, the engine management light lit up.
Mercedes’ breakdown service discovered an air intake snorkel split and Mr Bull booked the car into the official dealer on Scotswood Road.
The car spent three days undergoing repairs and he got his motor back on April 13.
Although there was just 60,000 miles on the clock and the car had a full dealer service history, the car’s engine started smoking just after he turned off the A1 onto Kingston Park Road.
Just moments after he got out, it burst into flames and the fire had to be put out by two fire engines.
The burned-out remains of the car has been at Mercedes-Benz Newcastle ever since.
The German manufacturer carried out an inspection of the vehicle and found that "there was no evidence to suggest that an inherent manufacturing defect or the previous repair... caused this incident."
Mercedes has advised Mr Bull to go through his insurance in order to get his money back.
He has also been asked to return the loan car he was given by July 3 and also to arrange to have the remains of his E-Class removed from the Scotswood Road site.
However, Mr Bull has refused to go through his insurance and is hoping he can return the car and get a refund through the Consumer Rights Act 2015.
Under the Act, he would be able to get a refund if he was able to prove any fault was with the car already, although Mercedes has claimed this is not the case.
The NHS worker says the situation has left him having sleepless nights.
Mr Bull told ChronicleLive: "I just want it to be over, I'm sick of it.
"It's gone on for far too long and I've had enough.
"There's something to do every night and it just seems to take up time and causes so much stress, you got to go to bed and you're stressing at night time thinking what's going to be the outcome?"
He has also vowed never to get a Mercedes-Benz again.
Mr Bull said he previously owned BMWs for 20 years and had never had any problem with them.
A Mercedes-Benz spokesperson said: "We are very sorry to hear about Mr Bull’s experience.
“We take any incident extremely seriously and work with all relevant parties to review the circumstances.
"From Mercedes-Benz UK’s examination of the car, there was no evidence to suggest that an inherent manufacturing defect or the previous repair carried out by Mercedes-Benz of Newcastle caused this incident.
“Given this, Mr Bull has been advised to contact his insurance company."
A Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "We can confirm that on the afternoon of Saturday, April 13 two of our crews attended a vehicle fire near to the A1 in Newcastle.
The Sun's view of the Mercedes E-Class Estate
We put the motor through its paces in May 2021, here's what we thought
A Mercedes estate. People keep them for years and years, and love them just as long. A car for life.
The E-Class Estate is the biggest and toughest estate Mercedes makes. Which means about the biggest and toughest anyone makes.
The base model, tested here, has pretty much all the spec you’d want.
The E-Class’s suspension is level and plush — more so in our base model than in the expensive ones with AMG Line trim and big wheels.
Cornering is wholly reassuring. It arrows down a motorway as solid as a rock, in near silence.
Inside, it’s smart enough, well-equipped and colossally spacious.
But mostly, strong. The leather isn’t the buttery-soft kind.
It’s as tough as the hide of a rhino. Everything feels like it is made to last a lifetime. Or two.
Of course, all this good stuff comes with the E-class saloon too. But the estate is more useful. Better still, it stops everyone thinking you are an executive mini-cab driver.
“The emergency call was received at 12.25pm and the first crew were on-scene at Kingston Park Road within seven minutes.
"Our control team sent two appliances to the car fire due to the locality of the vehicle being in close proximity to a roundabout.
“This was to ensure the safety of our firefighters and all road users.
"Our crews left the scene at 1.28pm once the fire was safely extinguished."
In May last year, a Mercedes AMG One, worth £2.2million - which has the same engine as Lewis Hamilton’s F1 car - was being towed on the M6, in Staffordshire, when it burst into flames.
While in July the same year, a £45,000 Tesla Model Y burst into flames on the side of the road.
In October 2023, a Volvo V50 was engulfed by flames "within seconds" as parents battled to pull their one-year-old from the blaze.