Body found after garage blaze
10:54am Friday 2nd July 2004
THE badly burnt body of a man was recovered over 24 hours after fire ripped through a car workshop and garage in Springfield Road, Teddington, on Tuesday afternoon.
More than 100 people were evacuated from their homes and the surrounding area cordoned off when it was discovered there were potentially explosive cylinders in the building.
A 73-year-old man, thought to be garage owner Tony Martin, was believed to be in the garage at the time and his family have reported him missing. One report suggested he was welding a car.
"It was a big fire with big flames, they had to move everyone out," said Nicholas Perez, a waiter at the Kings Head, on the High Street. "The main road was closed until about 9pm."
Traffic quickly built up in the area as the cordon was extended and firefighters battled the blaze from a safe distance. Nearby shops and pubs were instructed to close.
"The house shook when it happened," said Rupa Tamsitt as she waited to be allowed back to her home, just one house from the site, on Wednesday morning. "We had damage to our property and have not been allowed back in since."
Nick Peterson, the landlord of the Builders Arms, on the corner of Bridgeman Road and Field Lane, offered a place to shelter for those evacuated from their homes.
"It brings people together," he said. "It was reasonably jolly until people started to get wind of the fact that he Tony might not have got out of there. It upset quite a few people. Then of course people started to become annoyed that they could not get back to their houses."
Richmond upon Thames Council offered shelter to residents at Twickenham day care centre, but only six required the accommodation, others spending the night with friends and relatives.
The garage has been operating in the residential area for longer than shop keepers and residents can remember. Mr Peterson described it as 'an operation out of the ark'.
Firefighters were called to the blaze just before 3.30pm and battled it from Udney Park Road and Springfield Road. By 8.30pm the main fire was reported to be under control but because of the presence of acetylene cylinders, used for welding, crews remained on site cooling them.
At 4.07pm on Wednesday the building was considered safe to enter and firefighters discovered the body.
A number of business on the Springfield Road side of the High Street were forced to close until the cordon was lifted at 5.30pm on Wednesday.
At the time of going to press the body had not been identified and a post-mortem was due to take place.
The police, fire brigade and health and safety executive are investigating the cause of the blaze although it is not believed to be suspicious.