War veteran Jimmy Allison, 87, had been shopping at Aldi supermarket in Chichester Road, South Shields, and was on his way home when a short circuit caused the overheated battery to catch fire.

A concerned member of the public tried to stop the pensioner from continuing his journey, but frail Mr Allison, a widower for more than 20 years, was determined to make it back home.

He climbed off his scooter and began pushing it towards his ground-floor flat in nearby Newmarket Walk, with flames shooting up through the melted plastic casing.

Members of the public alerted the fire services, who desperately tried to find the pensioner as he weaved through the streets.

John Winter, crew manager at South Shields, said: "We got the call from Victoria Road, but when we got there the man was not there.

"Because he was on the move, we were trying to get in touch with him.

"We eventually caught up with him in Newmarket Walk where we put the fire out and made it electrically safe.

"The man wasn't injured, just more worried about getting home before his wheelchair broke down."

His son-in-law Mal Hunter, 62, who he lives with, spotted the pensioner hobbling down the street.

"It was an incredible sight," he said.

"Jimmy's legs aren't too good, but he'd managed to push the scooter along with flames licking up both sides of it."

Mr Allison, a retired railway fitter, said: "I was coming past Walter Wall carpets when I saw flames coming out from under the chair.

"People were trying to put out the fire but I was worried in case the scooter completely broke down and I was stranded."

Mr Allison, a grandfather-of-three, added: "Someone tried to throw water at the flames, but I just kept going.

"When I got home, Mal threw more water on it and put the fire out.

"It left me shaken, I thought it was going to explode."

Mr Hunter added: "He fought in the Second World War, so this didn't faze him as much as it would some others.

"He was determined to get home, and he was just lucky that he was uninjured, he wasn't even burnt."