This is the "crazy" moment thick, black smoke surrounded apartments near the Elephant and Castle fire.

Thivesh Veerasamy, 30, lives directly opposite the railway arches the station in southeast London, where a huge fire broke out on Monday afternoon.

The blaze, which tore through a car garage and left several cars gutted, took four hours and approximately 100 firefighters to bring under control.

And Thivesh and his wife, Cristina Giura, caught on camera the early moments of the blaze.

They watched on in horror from their fourth-floor apartment just across the road, as the flames blazed and the huge plumes of smoke clouded their windows.

It took 15 minutes before the couple, and other residents in the building, were evacuated at 2pm - and they were not allowed back into their flat until shortly after 6.30pm.

Thivesh, an oil trader, said: "It was crazy. When the explosion happened, the flames cam right up and across to our apartment.

"But the fire alarm in our building wasn't working, and our exit is right out onto the main road in front of the garage, so we didn't know whether we could leave.

"The fire started just before 1.45pm, and we were eventually able to be evacuated at 2pm, out through a back door.

"Luckily, the fire didn't reach our apartment, so everything is fine inside, which we're very grateful for. But it was pretty scary to watch."

London Ambulance Service confirmed on Monday afternoon that it treated six people at the scene for injuries, one of whom was taken into hospital.

The cause of the outbreak of the fire is still being investigated.