A BRADFORD business owner has spoken of his "devastation" after the advertising trailer for his gas engineering firm was damaged heavily in a vandalism attack in the early hours of the morning yesterday (Wednesday).
The attack, which saw vandals tear and rip apart an advertising banner on the trailer and spray paint and key the car towing it, occurred at around 3am yesterday on Queens Road, near the Bolton Road junction.
"I'm devastated," said Sakib Zarahit, director of Bradford company Safe Home Heating. "I didn't expect anyone to do this.
"It's been disheartening after all the money I've spent. I've probably spent about £5,000 to get it all set up.
"It's going to cost a lot of money to get it all back and running again."
Mr Zarahit's brother-in-law, Tawheed Ghazanfar, who also works in the family business set up in 2014, said: "They damaged and ripped apart the advertising banner on the trailer. It looks like they used a knife or a bladed instrument to do it.
"It's going to cost the company thousands of pounds. I find it very sad that someone would do something like this."
"It's such a shame," added Mr Zarahit. "The reason I invested in the trailer is for the older generation who may not be familiar with social media or internet savvy.
"One of the messages on the trailer advertised our 35 per cent discount on new boiler installations and they ripped up that up."
In addition to the banner being ripped up and spread all over the ground, the car towing it had black paint sprayed on the bonnet, doors and both licence plates. The door also appeared to be keyed.
A spokesperson for West Yorkshire Police said: "We have recorded a crime of criminal damage and are investigating."
Mr Ghazanfar added that it is the second time the trailer had been the subject of a vandalism attack in three weeks.
"It was vandalised just before Christmas on December 23. It took a lot of money to get it back up and running again.
"We moved it over to Queens Road and it's really helped our business in the area. It's definitely made a big difference."
Sharaz Zarahit, Sakib's brother and also a gas engineer for Safe Home Heating, said: "I've been a gas engineer for 20 years, but I've worked with my brother since he set up his own business in 2014.
"This business has been built from the ground up. This is a setback but we'll recover."
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