A BRAVE car dealer looked into the eyes of a shotgun-toting robber and dared him to shoot.

Shak Shah, 30, has told the Examiner how he challenged the two armed robbers at his Birkby Hall Road showroom on Friday.

The father-of-four was held up at gunpoint during a raid at his business, Shaks Specialist Cars.

But the courageous Bradford dad stood up to the masked robbers and then outwitted them by trapping them inside his premises.

The men were then forced to shoot their way out a back door by blowing off a padlock with their sawn-off shotgun.

They fled down a back alley empty-handed except for two mobile phones – and one of them has been recovered. As reported on Saturday, the two robbers stormed the upmarket showroom at about 7pm on Friday.

Mr Shah said he had already started locking up the premises and had just sat down to talk to some family friends when two men wearing balaclavas carrying weapons burst in the front door.

“One came straight to me, into my face and one went to the back office where my worker was and held him up,’’ he said.

“They were shouting, ‘where’s your money?

“I said, ‘I’ve got no money’, but he started bringing me towards my office thinking there was money in it.

“He had the gun pointed a couple of inches away from my chest.

“I said to him, ‘If you’ve got the b**** shoot me, but I haven’t got any money’.”

Mr Shah said at that point the second robber joined the first one in the back office.

Seeing his chance for freedom, Mr Shah sprinted out of the front door and locked the two raiders, his employee and his two guests inside.

“They both chased behind me and I thought I could get shot in the back,’’ he said.

“I went between the cars and I thought if they’re going to fire it would probably hit a car.

“I was lucky because everything was in hand and I just locked it within seconds.

“They couldn’t get out and they started panicking.

“I was thinking if something happens to those people who are sat there how am I going to live with myself.

“I heard a shot and then I saw the lads on the sofas get up and so I went back inside again.”

Mr Shah said he wasn’t sure if he had done the right thing and said he had considered trying to wrestle the shotgun out of the robber’s hands.

“When I said to him ‘shoot me’ I could see him shaking, he trembled,’’ Mr Shah added.

“I thought, ‘get the gun’, but at that time I didn’t know the other guy didn’t have a gun.

“It did come into my mind that the gun might not be loaded.

“But anything could have happened. What if I pull the trigger and shot the guy, but I just froze and then I just ran.

“I’m glad they got out as they could have held someone hostage or caused more damage or shot somebody – anything could have happened.

“I do regret what I did in the sense they could have shot me but then I don’t because it was more safe for the other guys.

“If I didn’t run out they wouldn’t have panicked, they wouldn’t have gone.

“They could have held us all in this room all night.”

Family friend Mohammed Gohir, 56, said he was sitting in the guest area with another man called Mr Shah when the dramatic raid unfolded.

He said: “What do you do when they come in with the guns. I couldn’t move, I was scared.

“You’ve got to compose yourself and there’s was nothing you can do.

“We didn’t even move, didn’t look at them in case they start pointing the guns.

“They were just running up and down and that’s when Shak made his way out shouting ring the police.”

Mr Gohir said the pair began furiously searching for an exit.

He continued: “The next minute we heard a bang. After a few seconds me and Mr Shah got up and the back door was wide open.

“I know this area pretty well so I went and banged on the shutters and Shak let me out.

“I got in my car and went to have a look around but they just disappeared.”

No-one was injured in the incident and police believe the men made off towards Storth Place.

Mr Shah, who has been running the high-end car dealership for six years, said he believed the men had originally targeted his business on Wednesday but had run off.

He added: “I could have been dead and all they took was an iPhone and another phone.

“I’m still in a state of shock. I can’t believe what’s happened. My family was going through my head. If something happened to me what would happen to my wife and kids? It’s shocking and scary. I’m just trying to run a business and I hope they get caught.”

Both men wore black balaclavas and grey Adidas hoodies with three white stripes on the arms and dark tracksuit bottoms.

The man with the gun is thought to be white, of athletic or slim build, about 5ft 9ins tall and spoke with a Yorkshire accent. The other man, who is thought to have been armed with a crowbar, is believed to be black, well-built or muscular and about 6ft 1in tall.

Anyone who saw two men matching these descriptions in the area around the time of the incident or who has any information that could assist the investigation is asked to contact Huddersfield CID via the force’s non-emergency number 101.