FIREFIGHTERS have closed down a third suspected shisha den in Blackburn after claiming it was a ‘death trap'.

Fire safety officers said anyone using the premises above the Happy Haddock takeaway, in Darwen Street, would not have been able to escape if there had been a fire.

However, the boss of the takeaway denied there was a shisha den at the site.

In May, Lancashire Fire Service launched a clampdown after reporting a dramatic rise in shisha dens in the town.

This is the third prohibition notice served by the fire service on properties in Darwen Street this year.

Chris Caton, fire safety enforcement chief, said residents had alerted the fire crews about the most recent suspected den.

He said: “We found that the only way to access this shisha den was via an open staircase in the kitchen.

"People using it would have had no way of getting out if there had been a fire downstairs.

"These dens are putting lives at risk because they are not following fire safety procedures.

"The smoking ban has forced these people underground, but from our point of view we don’t want them to come to any harm and so we will keep closing these places down if they are unsafe.”

The premises were empty at the time of the inspection, but Mr Caton said they had found shisha pipes and there was a strong smell of smoke.

A shisha pipe, also known as a hubble-bubble pipe, is a single or multi-stemmed instrument for smoking tobacco in which the smoke is cooled and filtered through water.

Quadeer Ahmed, owner of the takeway, said: “The notice was served because someone made a complaint and the only fire escape we had was the staircase.

"There was no shisha den.”