Shock as masked arsonist torches Cambridge taxi outside family homeA taxi driver has told of his shock after a masked man torched his cab outside the family home where his young children were sleeping.
Abdul Kadir was asleep at his house on Warren Road, East Chesterton, where he lives with his wife and three young children, when his minibus was set alight by a suspected arsonist on Tuesday morning.
He told the News: “We were all asleep and we were woken up by the police knocking on our door.
“We came down and there were fire trucks and police officers all over the place.
“My children had woken up as well, hearing the noise, and they were all really scared."
The fire is believed to have been started shortly before 4am, with neighbours alerting the fire service.
The silver minibus, which was completely destroyed in the blaze, was parked directly opposite the home of neighbour Dr Chris Wallis, who was forced to flee his house with his partner.
He said: “It was 4am in the morning and I woke up to the sound of a series of small explosions.
“I looked out the window and the whole thing was a bright orange glow, like Dante's Inferno."
He added: “I immediately got the other half outside out the back of the house.
“The fire was towards the front of the vehicle at that stage, but I knew it could easily migrate to the petrol tank at the back."
Neighbours flocked outside on the quiet residential street, as firefighters from Parkside Fire Station used two hose reel jets to extinguish the flames. They had returned to the station by 5am.
The fire damaged trees in Dr Wallis's front garden, with flames spreading dangerously close to his house.
He said: "We got out, and then I saw the blue lights, they came very quickly indeed.
"The response was unbelievable, it didn't take them very long to get it under control."
Mr Kadir, who has driven a hackney carriage in Cambridge since moving to the city in 2005, said he would now be unable to work until his insurers could arrange a replacement vehicle.
However he believes the masked culprit was caught fleeing the scene on cameras installed outside his house.
He said: "It's all on CCTV.
"When we checked it afterwards we saw someone with a mask on, they came and smashed the car and put something on it, and then the car exploded.
"The face wasn't visible, but we hope it will help the police."
A police spokeswoman confirmed the fire was being treated as deliberate, and a full investigation is now under way.
Mr Kadir said: “We are all just happy the neighbours called the fire service so quickly.
“This is a really quiet street, and we're well-known to our neighbours, and they told us nothing like this has ever happened on this road, or in this area of town."
Anyone with any information about the incident is asked to contact the police on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.
source:
http://www.ely-news.co.uk/shock-as-mask ... story.html
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