WATCH: Arachnophobic driver sparks fire at petrol station

A man started a fire at a Michigan petrol station by putting a lighter to what he said was a spider near his car’s fuel cap, in the second US case this week where motorist arachnophobia has caused mayhem.

In the latest incident WJBK-TV said the man escaped injury and his vehicle suffered little damage, but the petrol pump was destroyed. A clerk shut off the pump from inside the station in Center Line, a suburb of Detroit, Michigan, and called the fire brigade.