A tractor driver has survived a one-billion volt lightning strike while carrying out field work in Norfolk.

The strike destroyed the electrical system of Simon Jennings’ Fendt 936 and filled the cab with smoke. But he walked away with nothing worse than a ringing noise in his ears.

Mr Jennings was pulling a heavy set of Terra discs and cultivator behind the 360hp tractor on 6 July at Hindolveston near Fakenham when the rains started and the sky went black. At 4:50pm the lightning struck and the tractor stopped dead.

“All of a sudden, there was this almighty flash, a few sparks and a horrendous bang. It was a big flash of lightning and a big boom and that was that,” Mr Jennings told the Eastern Daily Press website.

“The tractor stopped, the cab filled with smoke but I got the rear window undone and grabbed the fire extinguisher ready to fight the fire. But the cab cleared and the smoke went and that was that.

“I just thought ‘that was a bit of luck’,” he said.

“The tractor was dead, no life whatsoever, but fortunately I’m alive to tell the story.”

“At the end of the day, it was an Act of God. It was not as though I was doing anything silly, it just happened. I had an implement in the ground and it went through the tractor and must have earthed out,” said Mr Jennings.

It is possible that the lightning might have struck the CB aerial, he added.