A Bradford businessman was horrified when a £50,000 BMW he borrowed for a test drive burst into flames - just five minutes after he left the showroom.

Ghalib Hussain, 45, owner of Power Distribution wholesalers, of Dirkhill Road, Great Horton, had only just borrowed the brand new demonstration model BMW X5 from Lister Park BMW, in Oak Lane, Bradford, when smoke began to pour from its dashboard.

Mr Hussain had parked the 4x4 vehicle outside his shop when his son Imran noticed the smoke.

Within seconds the car was ablaze with flames shooting up to 30 feet in the air.

Mr Hussain, said: "I was absolutely amazed. I had parked it up in front of the shop and was unlocking the shutters when my son said: 'look there's smoke coming from the dash board'.

"At first I thought he was joking but when I looked he was right. My son grabbed the fire extinguisher that comes with the car and tried to put it out but it just went up like a rocket.

"I said: 'I'd better call BMW' but my son said forget that get the fire brigade!

"It was incredible. I was totally amazed. I was just thinking I can't believe I'm seeing £50,000 of car going up in flames.

"The flames were going 30 feet up in the air and the windows exploded. We were just lucky it didn't spread to the fuel tank otherwise it would really have gone bang."

Mr Hussain, who has already bought an X5 from the Oak Lane dealership, had borrowed the demonstration model for a test drive while he waits for his own car to be delivered.

The flagship 4x4 is described by BMW's as "a completely new type of BMW, the first-ever luxury sports activity vehicle, combining powerful acceleration and exceptional handling with advanced traction technologies and all-wheel drive."

The German car company also boasts about the new car's safety features.

It says, "BMW X5 offers safety features that make it one of the safest cars in production, of any class, anywhere in the world."

But Mr Hussain said he believes that BMW may still have some work to do to make the X5 safer.

He said: "I wasn't worried about getting in trouble because I knew it wasn't my fault.

"We picked the car up at 10am and the fire started by 10.05am. We'd only driven a mile.

"I'm quite surprised that a BMW has done this. They must have spent millions developing the car but it's obviously got a design fault in there somewhere."

Sub officer Andy Norman, of Bradford's Nelson Street fire station, said: "We believe the fire was caused by an electrical fault in the dash board. It was well alight by the time we got there. It was totally gutted by the fire - it's a write-off."

A spokesman for Lister Park BMW said yesterday they were unable to comment on the fire.