THE only witness to Saturday's tragedy in Wolsingham has told how he saw the van explode before his eyes.

At 6.45am, Philip Barnes stood only 100 yards from the red Ford Transit van when it exploded, killing its driver, 33-year-old welder Andy Herd.

Father-to-be Mr Herd, from Wolsingham, was setting off for work when canisters of acetylene and oxygen in the back of his van exploded after he drove away from The Paper Shop, in the Front Street. He died instantly.

The explosion turned his van into a smouldering wreck, and flying debris caused severe damage to surrounding houses and shops, as windows were shattered and doors blown in.

Mr Barnes, a 35-year-old builder, was the only person who saw the explosion.

Last night, he told The Northern Echo how he was left shaking, unable to believe what he had seen.

He said: "Instinct made me look round as the van was coming down the road, and I was looking straight at it when it exploded.

"It was my first day working on my dad's market stall. I was only helping out because my dad's mate could not make it."

"I was just unloading some plants out of the back of my van when I heard the vehicle coming down the road.

"It was not speeding, the engine did not sound strange, it was just coming down the road normally when all of a sudden it blew up."

Mr Barnes attended Wolsingham Comprehensive School at the same time as Mr Herd, and remembers him as a friendly man.

He said: "I have not seen him for a few years, but he was at school in Wolsingham when I was. He was a canny lad, it is such a shame.

"I think about it now and feel so sorry for his wife and family."

Mr Barnes told how he became frozen to the spot in the seconds after the explosion.

He said the blast had made his 64-year-old father, Billy, fall to his knees. He said: "The front part of the van carried on rolling down the street, but it was in flames and it was obvious there was nothing anybody could have done to help him."

After the explosion, Mr Barnes was the first person to call the emergency services.

Concerned Wolsingham residents had filled the street to see what had happened.

Mr Barnes said: "The lad was still in the van, and it was not a nice sight."

Mr Barnes' worried partner, Deborah Whitfield, heard there had been an explosion in the town centre, and said she feared the worst.

She said: "I heard about the explosion and the first thing I thought was if Philip was involved. I was relieved when I heard his voice."

With the police helicopter circling overhead, and firefighters tackling the burning van, Mr Barnes said it was difficult to believe what was going on.

He said: "It is hard to describe how it made me feel because I froze. It was a shock to the system, and it left me physically shaking.

"A woman from one of the shops came out with a cup of tea with a few sugars in to calm me down.

"It was like walking around a film set, it was like a ghost town."

Although Mr Barnes was the first to raise the alarm, the police later told him that they found it hard to believe the call was genuine.

He said: "An explosion at seven in the morning in Wolsingham? They said it sounded odd."

Mr Barnes said yesterday that the reality of the situation had only started to sink in, although he said it would be a long time before he would forget the incident.

He said: "It will stick with me for a long time, that's for sure. You do not forget something like that.

"You see these things on television, but you do not expect it to happen in Wolsingham."

Pay your tributes to Andy Herd at www.thenorthernecho.co.uk