A BRADFORD fashion designer has spoken of the moment he rushed to save the life of a woman after spotting her car was on fire while she was driving it.

Imran Khan, 36, was working at a car dealership when he spotted the woman, who was middle-aged, driving her cream coloured Mini Cooper on Wednesday, November 14.

Mr Khan, from Manningham, left his role at the showroom, where he has spent the last 21 years, to pursue his real passion of clothes design, managing his three IK Collections stores.

He said the woman was in a state of shock when he came running across the road towards her.

Mr Khan said: “I worked at a showroom and I was talking to one of my colleagues when I looked to my left out of the window.

“There is a petrol station next to us, and a woman was driving out of it onto the road, and the bottom of her car was on fire.

“I went running straight out to stop her, and ran into the road. I stopped her and she was shocked to see someone telling her to get out of the car, but I said it was on fire and she got straight out.

“I went back into the showroom, where one of my colleagues passed me a fire extinguisher and I used it to put the fire out.

“Two of my colleagues, Paul Gater and Phil Wilson, also came out with extinguishers to help put it out. Another colleague rang the fire brigade, but we had already put the fire out. They used more water and checked it out.

“The lady was in a state of panic, so I took her into the showroom to calm her down and got her a cup of tea.

“She told me I had saved her life and hugged me.”

Mr Khan explained the woman had said a warning light had come on in her car, and she pulled into the petrol station to read her handbook. He said the woman told him it said it was something to do with an EG valve, and she had to drive at 50 miles per hour and that would clear the problem.

Since the incident, Mr Khan, who has trained as a fire marshal, said he has received a number of messages of support, but he never thought about being praised at the time.

“I never thought, I just saw fire and legged it out to stop her,” he continued.

“If I hadn’t seen it, I think she would have just carried on driving.

“Lots of people have been in touch, I even had a call from the local post office to say thank you.

“The recovery truck came and we helped the woman move stuff out of her car, but she was so stressed.

“As a Muslim, and even just as a human being, if you see someone who needs help you should do what you can to help and give back.”

The incident happened outside the GC Motors showroom in Ripon Road, Harrogate, at around 2.30pm on Wednesday last week.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue Service said: “A crew from Harrogate were called to a vehicle on fire.

“This fire was out on fire brigade arrival. Crews used a thermal imaging camera for inspection.”

On its Facebook page, GC Motors said: “Our heroes of the day are Imran Khan - Pitch Coordinator, Paul Gater - Sales Director and Phil Wilson - Sales Executive for being incredibly quick thinking in aiding a lovely lady whose poor car burst into flames.

“We now have three very empty fire extinguishers and a very responsive Harrogate fire brigade who came to the rescue.

“Well done guys, that’s enough for one day though.”

Mr Khan left his role at the showroom last Friday to run his IK Collections clothing business full time.

He has three stores, in Westgate in the city centre, in Manchester and in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Mr Khan has designed and created suits for a number of famous faces, including champion boxers Amir Khan and Tyson Fury, magician Paul Daniels, and TV antiques experts David Dickinson and David Harper from the Antiques Roadshow.