A mother said she is still smiling after seeing her home catch fire and failing her driving test on the same day

Sam Chatten returned to her house in St Giles' Crescent, Maldon, after failing the test.

She went upstairs to change and just half an hour later heard smoke alarms going off as the fire, reported in the Gazette last week, spread across the ground floor of the house.

Mrs Chatten today said she was upset that the family had been separated and at the loss of possessions in the house.

But she added: "I have got so much to laugh about because we are all still alive."

Published Wednesday, March 13, 2002