This is the idiotic moment a driver set himself on fire while lighting a cigarette as he filled up his car at a petrol station in Russia.

CCTV footage captured the motorist refuelling his white Renault in the town of Yemanzhelinsk in the Chelyabinsk Oblast on July 23.

He was standing next to the open fuel tank and waiting for it to fill when, defying common sense, he took out a lighter from his pocket to take a smoke.

Video shows how the lighter's spark ignited petrol vapours from the pump hose and the vehicle's tank in a fireball that blew towards the man's face. The flames also spread to his shirt as he flailed around and removed the fuel nozzle from his vehicle at the state-owned Gazprom forecourt.

He was seen on the camera footage jumping into the driver's seat to move his car away from the blaze before coming back to douse the fire's smouldering remains.

Speaking to local media, a woman named Daria, claiming to be the man's friend, identified him as a taxi driver named Rustam.

She said Rustam was her mother's roommate, and the two had allegedly come to the petrol station together that day.

She added: 'When they arrived at the station, my mother was driving. He put the fuel gun in, and while my mother was paying at the counter, he took out a lighter and lit it unconsciously.'

After the fire was extinguished, Daria's mother took Rustam home. District police later arrived at the petrol station, but the cabbie could not return to the scene since he reportedly suffered severe burns and had to rest.

Daria said: 'We agreed to compensate the station for damages - two fuel nozzles and two hoses. We don't know the cost yet, but we are prepared to pay.'

Rustam was taken to the Yemanzhelinsk hospital, and transferred the following day to Chelyabinsk. Daria said he needs a skin graft as his legs were severely burnt.