Taxi man diverts minibus to save woman from fire (From The Bolton News)

Taxi man diverts minibus to save woman from fire

8:08am Friday 20th November 2009

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A woman’s life was saved when two quick-thinking men used a minibus to rescue her from a burning house.

The terrified woman, named by neighbours as Julie Spencer, became trapped in her house in Bowen Street, Heaton, when a fire started downstairs.

She raised the alarm by waving and screaming from her upstairs bedroom window but could not get out because the ground floor was on fire.

One neighbour shouted for her to jump but the window would only open a few inches and she could not get through.

Witnesses said Mrs Spencer was starting to panic as the flames were rising and the house was filling with thick black smoke. It was at this point that taxi driver Iqbal Hussain saw the drama while passing by in his eight-seater minibus.

The 45-year-old, who works for Metro Cars, said: “I pulled up outside and grabbed my fire extinguisher, thinking it was just the door that was on fire. But then I could see all the flames inside the house.

“The woman inside was coughing and spluttering and going hysterical.”

A neighbour then suggested using the minibus to get up to the window.

Mr Hussain said: “I drove my minibus onto the pavement then a guy jumped straight up onto the roof — like a kangaroo.

“As I got out of the minibus he was already trying to pull the window open.”

The man ripped the window off its hinges and he and Mr Hussain helped the woman climb out onto the roof of the minibus.

She was taken to the Royal Bolton Hospital but is understood to have been released yesterday morning, having escaped serious injury.

Mr Hussain, aged 45, said he was not a hero. He added: “I was just in the right place at the right time.”

Watch commander Ted Andrews from Bolton Central fire station said: “The woman inside the house was extremely lucky. If it had been later at night when nobody was around, the fire would have been fatal.

“The cab driver was quick-thinking by parking up outside and the neighbour has done a good job as well. She would have broken her legs jumping out of the window — and that is assuming they could have got the window open at all.”

Police and fire investigators are now trying to establish the cause of the blaze, which started at 10.30pm on Wednesday.

julian.thorpe@ theboltonnews.co.uk

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