Smoker car-wash boss tells of blast close call
Reporter: BEATRIZ AYALA
Date published: 18 March 2010
Zulfikar Ali, owner of Bubbles Car Wash, with cut water pipes left inside his office
A CAR-WASH owner said he narrowly averted a huge explosion involving shoppers and motorists after discovering a gas pipe at his work had been cut.
Zulfikar Ali (39) said he was struck by a strong smell of gas when he walked on to the forecourt of Bubbles Car Wash, in Huddersfield Road near the Tesco supermarket and B&M Bargains.
The owner rushed into his office and discovered it had been broken into and wrecked. The false ceiling had been pulled down, and the gas pipe cut.
After turning off the gas supply, he ran back out to the pavement to call police and to arrange for repairs.
The father-of three, from Huddersfield, said he normally walks into work with a lit cigarette but it was pure luck that he had not.
He said: “I definitely cheated death that day. When I arrived at work at 9.30am there was a strong smell of gas everywhere, all over the yard.
“I was scared to turn the lights on in the office because I thought it all would have blown up. If I would have put the office light on, there would have been a big explosion. We’ve got a church across the road and offices to our left, it could have been a lot worse.”
Mr Ali, who owns another car wash in Huddersfield, has run Bubbles for the past two weeks. He believes he has been targeted because he is a new business and said on-site security has now been stepped up.
He said: “When I reported it to the police, they said it could be a copper pipe theft but there was some copper in the office that had been left behind.
“The gas pipe was hidden behind a false ceiling and that had been pulled down.
“Both the gas and water pipes had been cut, but there was no theft.
“The man who came to fix the gas pipe said it looked like it had been tampered with. I was scared to come into work yesterday.”
A spokesman for Greater Manchester Police said a Scenes of Crime team visited the business on Tuesday, the day of the incident, and the matter was being investigated.
