A survivor of a deadly e-bike fire is among 12 men taking legal action against the manufacturer in a “first of its kind” legal action.
Nazmush Shahadat miraculously escaped his “overcrowded” property in Shadwell, east London, in the early hours of March 5, 2023 after his flatmate Vikesh’s modified e-bike exploded less than a metre from their bunk bed.
The 25-year-old, a Bangladeshi citizen who is studying law at Hertfordshire University, paid £400 a month to sleep in the two-bedroom flat, which he claimed was littered with bed bugs.
Recalling the fire, Mr Shahadat said he woke at around 2am to find “sparks coming out” of the e-bike battery and that the blaze spread “in a matter of minutes”.
The student, who lost his late father’s ring in the inferno, told The Standard: ‘Everyone was sleeping. And first there was a sound, like a fan, and then suddenly, (the e-bike) was on fire.
“I said, ‘Wake up!’ By the time they did, the sparks got bigger. We poured water over the battery. Another put a blanket on it.
“The last thing I remember was like a spray. First there was white smoke. Then a while black smoke.”
Mizanur Rahman, a 41-year-old father-of-two who only moved into the flat a day or two before, died in the blaze.
A coroner concluded it was caused by the bike’s faulty battery.
Mr Shahadat, who now lives in Croydon, south London and has vowed “never” to ride an e-bike or e-scooter again.
He said: “Every time I see a fire truck or an ambulance, or the fire alarm goes off at work, I feel the same thing over again,
“It is always going to stay with me. A stain on my memory.”
Mr Shahadat is among a group of 12 survivors suing Leon Cycle for negligence, as well as landlords Sofina Begum and Aminur Rahman.
Earlier this month, Begum, 51, and Rahman, 54, were fined more than £90,000 at Snaresbrook Crown Court after pleading guilty to housing offences last year.
Leon Cycles have been contacted for comment.