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Essex Road was closed off for several hours on Tuesday after a suspected electrical fault caused a fire in a basement minicab office.

Six fire engines and 35 firefighters and officers battled the blaze, which started in the empty office beneath the Angel Kebab takeaway, opposite the Green Man pub. No one was injured in the fire, which started just before 1pm and was under control an hour-and-a-half later.

Dundar Gozcu, owner of the kebab shop, spoke to the Tribune about the moment he discovered the building was on fire.

“I could smell smoke and I thought it was coming from the fuse box downstairs and I opened the door and I could see the flames,” he said. “We called the fire brigade and used about three fire extinguishers to try and put it out. Luckily they were here quickly. I don’t think there’s too much damage.”

Mr Gozcu owner said he believed the fire was started by an electrical fault in the fuse box beneath his shop and revealed he had called UK Power Networks on Saturday after a power cut in the building.

“The electrical boxes underneath is where it happened,” he said. “On Saturday UK Power Networks sent two staff and they said a cable was burnt and had to change it and they had to go away and came back around 3.30am on Sunday. I thought they fixed it. Then this happened two days after.

“Ten people are living upstairs – imagine if this had happened in the night, it could have been much worse.”

Stelios Stylianou, of Lighthouse 18 Ltd, a minicab operator, said his company is due to move into the basement premises previously occupied by Angel Express minicabs, but is awaiting approval of its licence from TfL.

Fire crews from Holloway, Shoreditch. Euston, Stoke Newington, Kentish Town and Soho fire stations attended the scene. The cause of the fire is not known at this stage.

A UK Power Networks spokesman said: “We were alerted to a fire at a property in Essex Road and disconnected the power supply to enable the fire service to work safely. The cause of the fire is under investigation.”

Essex Road was closed between the junctions with Cross Street and Canonbury Road and was later re-opened.