Taxi driver Kathryn Stemmen Nilsen (35) and her husband were shocked when they came out of Østfoldhallen after a shopping trip on Wednesday afternoon.
– I still feel my body shaking a little, says Nilsson to VG.
A complaint was lodged at the Eastern Police District just before four o’clock on Wednesday A car was set on fire in the car park at Østfoldhallen in Fredrikstad. Police warned of heavy smoke and at the same time asked passers-by to keep their distance.
Kathryn Nilsson was shopping for Christmas presents by herself at the shopping center when her phone suddenly started ringing.
– I was standing at the checkout and got a call from my sister who thought it was my taxi standing there burning.
– When I saw the newspaper, I got a big shake. Firemen came there and extinguished my car. “I don’t know whether to laugh or not,” she continues.
The taxi driver was interviewed first Fredrikstad Blad.
About 40 minutes later, around 10:50 p.m., the Eastern Police District reported that the car fire was extinguished and no one was injured in the incident.
– It happened at four o’clock, but I’m still shaking. Nilsen says the old man had to drive home.
Electrical fault
Kathryn Nielsen also graced the cover Fredriksstad Blad earlier the same day. The article is about quitting a job as a taxi driver in Hvalar after 13 years in the business.
Nilsson also talked about how he had been having problems with one of his cars for a long time. It was precisely on Wednesday afternoon that the fire started, she tells VG.
– There have been electrical problems since I bought the car. It’s been half a year, but today my husband has to drive it to Friedrichstadt so that the main supplier can look at it, says Nilsen.
– When he got out of the car in Østfoldhallen to go shopping with me, he was a bit shocked by the burning smell, he adds.
This car is a 2020 Morris LEVC TX. The so-called “London Taxi” costs less than a million, and the taxi driver says there are only five of them in Norway.
When the police reported the incident, the vehicle was identified as an electric car. Nilsen explains that it’s actually a hybrid with a bigger battery.
He says it is the only wheelchair-accessible taxi in Hvalar.
– I’m very glad the car stayed where it was and there was no personal injury or damage to anything else, Nilsen says.
– It could have happened while we were driving, for example a wheelchair user, and then I don’t know what we did, he adds.
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