Alarming CCTV footage has captured the moment teenage arsonists sparked a mini-explosion in the stairwell of a public car park.

Thanet Council's Enforcement Team shared the video on Twitter, saying they had passed it on to Kent Police.

It appears to show five boys using an accelerant to set fire to a pile of litter in the Royal Harbour car park in Ramsgate.

The youngsters stoke the flames by squeezing liquid onto the rubbish, sparking the fireball.

The video was posted with the caption: "Accelerant used by offenders risked their own & visitor's wellbeing after exploding!"

The footage suggests the incident happened at 2.34pm on Monday.

Police are investigating and say enquiries are ongoing.

A Thanet District Council spokesperson:“It’s really disappointing that such a dangerous incident has occurred at one of our car parks.

"This type of behaviour can only be described as mindless vandalism, and each time an incident like this occurs we have to target more time and resources to put it right.

“Due to the capabilities of the council’s CCTV cameras, we were however able to trace the youths involved in 'real-time' from the car park and into Ramsgate town centre, where we were then able to direct Kent Police Officers to their exact whereabouts.”