A milk delivery van driver was taken to hospital after his vehicle burst into flames.
The driver, thought to be in his 40s, was parked at the back of the Premier convenience shop at the junction of Drayton Road and Mile Cross Road in Norwich when the fire broke out just before 9am on Monday.
Fire crews from Earlham and Sprowston were called as flames engulfed the van and smoke poured into the sky, and police managed traffic around the scene.
Premier Express employee Michelle, who did not want to give her surname, said the driver came into the shop saying there was a problem with his vehicle.
She said: 'He came in and said that his van had started smoking, and the next minute it was definitely smoking.
'Then all of a sudden it had started up in flames. One minute it was smoke and the next minute it was fire.'
The fire crews had the blaze out within 20 minutes, but the van was destroyed.
A spokeswoman from the East of England Ambulance Service said: 'We were called at 9.47am this morning, and send an ambulance and ambulance officer to the scene.
'One patient, thought to be a man in his 40s, was given treatment at scene for some breathing difficulties, and then conveyed to the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital for further assessment and care.'
Kerry Ireson, who works at the Draytona Bakery next door, said she saw the van go up in flames.
She said: 'I could see the smoke and apparently the shop phoned the company and they told him to stay away from the vehicle.
'The next thing it was really quite a blaze. It was terrible.
'It was awful, but at least it wasn't any worse.'
Michelle said she hoped the driver would make a quick recovery.
She said: 'He delivers the milk and he always parks out back.'
The blaze also caused some damage to the gutter and roof of an outbuilding belonging to the convenience store.
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