POLICE have launched an arson investigation after an abandoned car burst into flames.

A maroon-coloured Renault Clio was parked at Seaweed Close in Weston, Southampton, when the blaze out just before 9pm on Monday.

The fire spread to two other vehicles - a car and a van - as well as damaging a tree and a fence.

A crew from Hightown fire station dealt with the incident.

Ginny Newman, 31, of Seaweed Close, said: "I was sitting on the sofa watching TV when I heard a popping noise which sounded like fireworks.

"I looked out of the window and saw a bright glow which turned out to be a car that was fully ablaze.

"I phoned the fire brigade, who were here within five or six minutes of the call and must have put the fire out within one-and-a-half-minutes of turning up.

"A lot of people went out to watch but obviously stayed at a safe distance.

"The car was abandoned a few weeks ago if not a couple of months - it's been reported to the owner of the car park.

"The owner of the van has moved it, I guess to get it fixed."

A Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service spokesman confirmed that one car was destroyed in the blaze. Another suffered 50 per cent damage and the other sustained 25 per cent damage.

A police spokeswoman confirmed that the blaze was being treated as arson.

She said it was not currently being linked to at least three incidents in the city in August in which caravans were set alight.