A TRACTOR worth £47,000 was destroyed in minutes after a fire started in the roof. Two farm contractors had left the three-year-old John Deere tractor, owned by Ben Ensor, for only a few minutes while they checked fences nearby.

"As we were walking back I could see flames coming out of the roof," said one from Flaxley. "I've never seen anything burn so fast in my life. It had 250 litres of diesel in it and the flames were about 20 feet high."

The cause of the fire is thought to be electrical.

Two fire crews from Cinderford were called to the fire at around 5.30pm on Monday in Ben Swinley's orchard off Elton Lane.