Shopkeeper will sell stock at cost price to help others

A Croydon shopkeeper will give away his stock at cost price to London businesses damaged in the riots after "pure luck and the kindness of others" saved his shop from being destroyed.

Father of two Ashit Shah, below, sells electrical and lighting goods in west Croydon on a street targeted on Monday night.

He is now offering businesses without insurance the chance to take anything from his shop at cost price, in a gesture of solidarity with those who have lost their livelihoods. He has run ABM Electrical in London Road with his uncle for 17 years. The 43-year-old said: "Luck was on my side and I now want to help my fellow Londoners to rebuild their businesses."

Mr Shah went to his shop at 7.30pm on Monday - two hours after it closed - to drop off his car, having been at a funeral that evening. Minutes later he was confronting a group of youths who broke his front window causing £300 of damage. He begged them to leave his shop, which is packed with chandeliers and lighting accessories, and a group of local people banded together to help him fend them off.