A SCRAP yard suffered around £10,000 damage in a late-night blaze which fire chiefs are treating as ‘suspicious’.

An Audi A3 parked in Pomfret Street, Blackburn, went up in flames at 12.30am yesterday, and the fire quick- ly spread to nearby build-ings and a stack of 30 tyres.

A unit belonging to Jap Euro Motors, along with the Audi, were completely destroyed, and two other units and the tyres were severely damaged.

Owner and father-of-five Allowhdin Mehuddim said: “It is all bits of scrap, which may seem worthless to many people, but one man’s scrap, is another man’s treasure.

“There was an Audi A3, and my wife’s BMW 316 there as well, although that can be repaired.

“There’s probably about £10,000 damage, but I will fix it and carry on. “I have to as I have five children and a mortgage. I have been here for three years and have never had any problems before.

“It is a constant battle with the economic climate and I don’t need things like this. but you have to put your head down, bite the bullet, and carry on.

“When I arrived and saw the damage my heart sank. “Everything I have is here and now it is gone.”

Talib Hussain, owner of Silver Bridge, a paper conv- erting business on the road, said: “I got a call from my friend that there was a fire and I jumped out of bed and came straight down here.

“I saw the flames when I was crossing the bridge and I feared that it was my unit.

“I’ve been here for 10 years, and I’ve never seen a blaze as bad as this before.

“I’m very glad that the fire didn’t spread to the rest of the road, but it’s a shame that the scrap yard had to suffer this.”

Three fire crews were called and battled the fire for 90 minutes.

Blackburn Fire Station watch manager Paul Guin-an said: “We are currently treating this incident as suspicious, and inquiries are ongoing.

“The Aldi A3 was set alight and the flames spr-ead to the nearby units and then to a stack of 30 tyres.

“If the wind was blowing in the other direction, then other units would have been at serious risk.

“The flames were about 20ft high.”