Imran Khan was left with burning skin and eyes when a teenager squirted the liquid from a Lucozade bottle through the window of his car.
The 37-year-old, who is still in pain, says the assault in Barking last Tuesday came after he was intimidated by a gang of teens as he delivered a pizza to Academy Way.
“There were a group of 13 or 14 of them, they surrounded me,” the dad-of-five explained.
“They started swearing at me, I didn’t know what to do.
“They took the food off me and threw it at my face.”
After a passer-by called the police, the gang scarpered but Imran was forced to return to the road to deliver the order once again from his takeaway business in Porters Avenue, Dagenham.
He then drove to Longbridge Road to pick up his wife
Farina Bibi, 33, from her sister’s house.
Before he could get out of his car he was targeted by two teenage boys, one of whom fired the liquid at his face and ran off.
“My face was burning, I was in a lot of pain and couldn’t open my eyes,” said Imran.
He then shouted for help from a neighbouring shopkeeper who poured a big bottle of water on his face at about 6pm.
“I think that’s what saved me, the burns didn’t go too deep,” said Imran, who spent a night in Queen’s Hospital, Romford, following the attack.
Imran is treating his extesnive scarring with two different types of creams and antiseptic eyedrops, and has been referred to a scar specialist at Whipps Cross University Hospital.
“It was shocking, I’m still in shock,” admitted the Ilford resident.
“I’m more angry than anything, they should get punished for what they’ve done.
“If they did this to me, what could they do to more vulnerable people?”
