A businessman says he will give the fire service £1,000 as a thank-you for saving his shop.

Mazen Khader says the firefighters rescued his livelihood and his family’s future.

He will arrange to visit Dover Fire Station shortly to present the donation cheque.

Mr Khader told the Mercury: “This was a heartbreaking incident. It has been devastating.

"But they saved my family business and now I want to thank them.

“They did a great job and I owe them my family’s future."

The blaze had broken out at the ETC (European Trading Corporation) pawn shop in Cannon Street, Dover, at about 9am on Thursday, July 6.

Mr Khader had at the time been driving his two teenage sons to school.

He had returned at 9.05am to discover his shop had been struck by the blaze.

He said: “I had walked from the car along the alley when another local trader stopped me and said there was a fire in my shop.

“When I turned the corner I found the firefighters were already there.

“They asked me for the keys to get in.”

The fire was in the ground floor shop area.

The five-storey building, which has flats on the upper floors, had to be evacuated but there was only one person inside, a woman in a first floor flat.

Local traders managed to warn her and she got out unharmed.

Three fire engines had been called out and crews were at the scene until 10.40am.

The blaze, confined to a small area of the ground floor, was since confirmed by Kent Fire and Rescue Service to have been accidentally caused by an electrical fault.

Mr Khader plans to reopen his shop in the next two or three weeks.

He added: “We worked very hard for the last three years to put the business where it is.

“Myself, my wife and the boys have sacrificed a lot and have not had a holiday in all that time.”