A COUPLE fled flames when a stolen scooter was dumped and torched under a sun lounge.

The man and woman, in their 30s, were woken at 6.10am yesterday by a next door neighbour banging on their front door in Cemetery Road, Darwen.

The scooter had been left in a car port at the rear of the property, and the flames from the vehicle damaged the structure of the sun lounge above, spreading smoke into the terrace house.

Darwen watch manager Glenn Fogarty said: “They’ve had a lucky escape as they were asleep in bed at the time.

"They were saved by a combination of their neighbour waking them up and the smoke alarm going off.”

A police spokesman confirmed they were looking into whether the torched scooter is the same one reported stolen from a nearby house hours earlier.

It has now been recovered from the scene and is undergoing analysis.

A one-way system was put in place on Cemetery Road while the incident was dealt with.

Yesterday, insurance loss assessors and workmen were at the house.