Builder has been left with £2800 bill after battery “exploded”

A BUILDER has been left with a £2,800 bill after a battery “exploded” in the back of his van while he was driving.

Matt Anns was shocked when the whole of his work cabin filled with smoke while on his way home to Tadley, Hampshire, last month.

The self-employed tradesman discovered that one of his 18 volt power tool batteries had exploded and caught fire.

The battery had been kept in a tool box amongst other battery tools but the 38-year-old said all batteries had been removed from the tools for safety.

A shocking video shows a selection of tools engulfed in flames beside Matt’s van.

Other images show the burnt and melted remains of Matt’s plastic toolbox following the incident.

Due to his insurance not covering fire damage, Matt has now been left with a bill upwards of £2,800 to replace his tools.

Matt posted a video onto TikTok last month, writing: “When your Dewalt batteries catch fire!”

The post has now collected over 100,00 views and more than 200 comments from viewers who were shocked by the footage.

@user1270178427615 said: “Damn, I was waiting for the day that would happen to me.”

@jippojake said: “Personally I’d return this back to Dewalt, these are Dewalt products and this is one thing they should not be doing.”

@RedfoxFilms said: “Oh s**t, I hope you are okay.

“This is the second time I’ve seen this recently and it makes me wonder about how I’m storing mine.”

@SurajSodha said: “I wonder if the terminals shorted on something metal? It’s rare for something like this to happen.”

@Carpentry_bysam said: “I hope you’re ok mate!”

Speaking today, Matt said: “We had a 25 minute drive home that evening and 10 minutes into the journey we could see and smell a small amount of smoke in the front of the van.

“The van had only just come back from having some engine work done earlier that day so initially we thought there was an issue with something under the bonnet.

“We pulled over to check but couldn’t see anything so continued the drive and by the time we reached our destination the cabin was full of smoke. This is when I opened the side door of the van to see my tools engulfed in flames.

“On inspection of the tools the case that caught fire was the case with all my battery tools, all tools had batteries removed from the tools and the 54v batteries had red transportation clips on.

“One of the 18v caught fire/exploded by the look of it all and there was nothing else in the box flammable or ignitable.

He added: “To replace all the melted or water damaged tools and toolboxes will stand me in at somewhere in the region of £2,840.

“It wasn’t covered on my insurance as the van and tools insurance only covers if they are stolen or damaged because of an accident with the vehicle.”