Mother-of-three thanks ‘heroes’ who stopped as she recounts moment her car set fire on M3

On Wednesday morning (April 14), Rosie Howell was travelling from home in Southampton to Basingstoke with her young daughters, aged six and four, and one-year-old son, when her car caught fire on the M3 northbound between junctions six and seven, temporarily closing the road.

They were on their way to see Rosie’s sister and her family, who they haven’t seen since February last year, and who have never met Rosie’s baby boy.

Her sister lives in Chiswick, so they had planned to meet roughly halfway in Basingstoke.

Rosie Howell, 37, was travelling to meet her sister in Basingstoke

The 37-year-old said: “I was just driving down the M3 and the car stopped and stalled a little bit so I thought I would pull over and see if I could restart it.

“I saw what I thought was steam coming from the bonnet, and it very quickly became clear it wasn’t steam, but smoke.

“I was trying to get my son out of his car seat, and I told my daughters to get out of the car now - they were trying to gather up their toys!”

Rosie moved her family as far as she could from the Citreon C4 Picasso vehicle.

The car was completely destroyed by the fire.

“I left everything in the car. My keys, my handbag, everything,” she said.

“As we walked away, the smoke got thicker and thicker and turned into flames

“All I remember thinking is that I needed to get my children to safety. There were cars still driving down the M3 and I couldn’t get them up the embankment because it was quite steep.”

Describing the emotions running through her head, she continued: “I had my baby in my arms and I was trying to guide my daughters but I only had one hand! I was panicking, 100 per cent. And I know that’s not necessarily what you should do around children but I was scared, I couldn’t see anywhere safe to go.

“Thank god we weren’t on the smart motorway’ and there was a hard shoulder.

The M3 northbound was closed, while traffic built up on the southbound carriage too [Credit: Suzanne Hayes]

“It spread quite quickly. It had spread up the edge of the embankment before the fire brigade got there. But there were other people that came to our aid.”

Rosie issued an appeal on Facebook to find five individuals in particular who helped her and her family, and successfully traced them all.

She said: “I don’t even know how to thank them. I linked up with them all on Facebook and sent them each a personal message but it doesn’t cover it because they really did save us.”

Speaking about the first man on the scene, she said: “I keep remembering and seeing it in my head. He ran up the motorway, and the traffic must have still been moving at the time, so he must have been running against the traffic of the M3. He is a hero. He took the baby from me so I could use my two hands for my two girls.”

The family were stood “in the line of the smoke”, so another man said they could sit in their van.

Firefighters from Basingstoke, Winchester and Odiham were called to the scene [Credit: Odiham Fire Station]

A little while later, a passing ambulance driver stopped to help.

Rose said: “Another man was driving an ambulance, not called for us, and he came to make sure that we were ok. He stayed with us for quite a long time, got me a drink and made sure everyone was ok."

She continued: “Things started to go bang on the car. There was a car at the front of the queue of traffic and the man and his daughter said we could go and sit in their car. They were in the third lane, so as far away as could be. They ended up giving us a lift home.”

When asked how long the whole thing lasted, Rosie said: “It could have been an hour, it could have been a minute. It felt like a lifetime.”

Reflecting on the incident, she added: “I don’t know what happened, I don’t think I ever will. It’s just a horrible thing to happen. You never plan for something like this to happen.”

Northbound traffic was blocked back past junction 8 while firefighters attended the scene [Credit: Odiham Fire Station].

In the moment, once everyone was safe and despite all that was going on, Rosie said she was most upset that she could not be reunited with her sister.

“I was devastated that we didn’t get to see each other. I hope it won’t be too long.”

Sending a message to all the ‘heroes’ who stopped to help, she said: “Thank you everybody. It really did restore my faith in humanity that so many people rushed to help, especially with the coronavirus.

“It was wonderful to see.”

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