A takeaway owner has suffered major burns after teenage thugs squirted acid on his face from a Lucozade bottle.
Imran Khan, 37, was attacked twice within minutes by a gang of teenagers on his way to delivering pizza in Barking, Essex.
The father-of-five is traumatised and fears he could be scarred for life after one of the thugs sprayed the acid through his car window last week.
“My face was burning – it was horrible,” Mr Khan told the Daily Mail.
“I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t even open my eyes it was that bad.”
Minutes before he had been surrounded by more than 13 teenagers who started swearing at him and throwing the pizza in his face.
“There were a group of 13 or 14 of them – they just surrounded me,” he said.
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“They started swearing at me and I didn’t know what to do. They took the food off me and threw it at my face.”
A passer-by alerted police and the gang of teenagers ran off.
But Mr Khan was forced to return to the road to re-deliver the order from his takeaway business in nearby Dagenham.
He then drove a short distance to pick up his wife Farina Bibi, 33, from her sister’s house.
But before he could even get out of his car Mr Khan was targeted by two teenage boys suspected to have been involved in the first incident at about 6pm.
One of the teenagers fired acid at his face as he sat helplessly in his car before fleeing.
The businessman screamed for help from a shopkeeper based just yards away.
The local Good Samaritan poured a bottle of water on Mr Khan’s burning face in an attempt to cool him down.
“I think that’s what saved me,” he said.
“The burns didn’t go too deep thank goodness.”
Mr Khan was rushed to Queen’s Hospital, Romford, and spent a night having intensive treatment before being discharged the next day.
He has been left with burning eyes and major injuries to his cheeks and neck.
Mr Khan is now treating his burns with two different types of creams and antiseptic eye-drops.
He has also been referred to a scar specialist at London’s Whipps Cross University Hospital.
But Mr Khan has admitted how he is still severely shaken by the horrific attack.
“It was shocking, I’m still in shock,” added Mr Khan, who fears he’ll be scarred for life.
“I’m more angry than anything. They should be punished for what they’ve done to me.
“If they did this to me, what could they do to more vulnerable people?”
A Met Police spokesman said they have launched an urgent investigation.
