A newsagent saved his business and family's home when he used his 4x4 car to push a burning car away from his shop after it exploded during a ram-raid early today.

Gurdial Singh, 48, used his Mitsubishi Shogun to push the burning Vauxhall Cavalier several metres away from Chatha's Newsagents in Bierley Lane, Bierley at 3.15am.

Three of his family members had been asleep upstairs above the shop when a gang tried to smash the car through bollards in front of it. The gang fled as the car caught fire.

Mr Singh's daughter Jasbir Kaur, 21, who lives above the shop with her husband Harwinder Jit Singh, praised her father's quick-thinking.

"I was asleep with my husband upstairs when we heard a crash outside which jolted us awake.

"We saw huge flames outside the shop. We were terrified and didn't know what was happening and thought the whole shop was on fire.

"We then realised they had smashed a car into the bollards in front of the shop and it had caught fire."

After calling emergency services, the couple rang Mr Singh, who lives nearby.

"My father came in his Jeep, saw the burning car and then just bashed it three times to knock it away. As soon as he had done that the fire brigade arrived and put the fire out," said Mrs Kaur.

"He was brilliant. Anything could have happened to the shop, they could have doused it in petrol and it could have all been set on fire by the car.

"His quick actions have saved the shop, even though I shouted at him not to do it because I thought it was too dangerous.

"He's got tremendous courage, but he said you can't just stay standing, you've got to do something in this situation."

A crew from Odsal fire station put out the burning car within minutes.

A West Yorkshire Fire Service spokesman said: "This man saved his own property because he had the presence of mind to get into his jeep and shift the car."

A police spokesman said they were called to the scene at around 3.15am and added: "We found a burned out Vauxhall Cavalier which had been involved in an attempted ram raid at an off licence.

"It had been stolen from the Low Moor area earlier in the month."

He added that about 5.30am, officers arrested three men in connection with the incident who were being quizzed by detectives today.

Chatha's was open for business as usual today.