A ROMANTIC night in turned into a nightmare for a couple in Abbots Langley, who awoke to find their bedroom on fire.

The couple, of The Fairway, decided to spend some quality time alone during the May Day weekend.

The woman, wishing to remain anonymous, said: 'I lit three candles on the bedroom mantelpiece. I kept saying we must remember to put them out in case we fall asleep.'

However, the couple fell asleep at 1am on May Day and woke up at 5am to see their room alight.

'My boyfriend woke me up. The corner of the room was engulfed in flames and there was thick smoke.

'I don't know why, or even how, he knew to wake up. He just did.

'We ran to a neighbour's house and called the fire brigade.'

The television and the stereo system in the bedroom had completely melted and the room was heavily smoke logged before firefighters arrived at the scene. Two of the other bedrooms and the bathroom were badly damaged by the flames.

The woman added: 'We don't have a fire alarm but we will definitely be installing one now. The firemen told us if it was two minutes later, it would have been too late.'

It took firefighters 40 minutes to bring the flames under control.