20 years ago: Robinsons Superstore, Ashton-in-Makerfield, UK – 19th September 2002
It was just a regular Thursday evening in September and we’d just got back from Sainsbury’s when the ‘phone rang. “The shop’s on fire”. We jumped in the car and drove to Ashton. There were police cordons on the A49 at Haydock Racecourse. We told them who we were and they waved us through. We then spent most of the rest of the evening stood across the road, watching it burn down. Thankfully, no-one was killed or injured but this single event would dominate our lives for the next fourteen months.