FIRE chiefs have warned businesses to move their rubbish bins after a supermarket narrowly escaped a fire that could have caused millions of pounds worth of damage.

The warning came after Lidl supermarket, in Hyndburn Road, Accrington, was faced with a £5,000 bill after their insecure bin compound, built next to the store, was destroyed.

Station Officer Peter Ashworth said the fire spread inside the building's walls and damaged the brickwork and roof. It was only through luck that it did not spread to the store's interior. With the compound insecure and built next to the supermarket, they were asking for trouble," he said.

He said the fire could have been a repeat of the one that ripped through the old Halfords store in Eastgate three years ago, causing £3million worth of damage.

Firefighters spent two hours damping down and searching for hot-spots in the walls after extinguishing the fire that destroyed Lidl's galvanized steel compound after midnight on Thursday night. Station Officer Ashworth said the fire was being treated as suspicious and he believes youths were responsible, as the nearby KFC restaurant was hit similarly 15 minutes earlier.

He said: "Where the bin compound is situated, right next to the supermarket is extremely dangerous. They are asking for trouble.

"These people have also got in easily because the compound was insecure as well. With the two together, it was a recipe for disaster.

"We were there for a couple of hours, damping down and searching for hot-spots, because it had spread to the building. It had damaged 20 sq ft of brickwork, the roof and had got inside the walls."

PS Mark Porter said: "The fire is thought to be suspicious and we are investigating. We will be making further enquiries to find out how it started.

"There are obvious similarities with the Halfords fire, so one of the things we could be doing is giving some crime prevention advice, which we do for traders on bigger industrial estates." Nobody at Lidl was available to comment.