An angry restaurant owner has slammed cops for leaving him and his staff waiting nearly five hours after he discovered burglars had broken into his takeaway - just five minutes walk from Hounslow police station.

Mohammed Khan, 24, realised the back door had been smashed open when he arrived at the family-run New Khan Baba in the high street at 8.30am on Monday, December 1.

The crooks stole nearly £1,000, vandalised a fridge and started a fire inside the eatery, destroying important documents.

The nearby Cafe O and O was also raided overnight, with the burglars also getting in through the rear entrance and stealing money.

Mr Khan saw cash strewn all over the floor of his restaurant and immediately phoned the police - who told him not go inside and that they were on their way.

But officers did not arrive until 1.20pm, despite Mr Khan repeatedly calling Hounslow police while he stood outside in the cold, turning away his regular customers.

He said: “I was absolutely shattered, I didn’t know what to do. I was losing customers, people were coming and asking what had happened.

“It was ridiculous, there was no phone call, no communication, and I had lost so much money in the restaurant, the weekend sales and the damage to the property.

“All the food is going to be wasted now. Monday morning is usually busy because people come from work for breakfast, and I have lost lunch customers as well.

“This has been a complete disaster for me.”

Frustrated Mr Khan could not leave the crime scene until police arrived because the damaged door and security shutter meant the building was not secure.

He resorted to asking a passing officer in the street for help - but Mr Khan said all he could tell him was that the cops assigned to the call were busy.

A forensic team arrived in the afternoon to search the premises for clues, and the restaurant reopened for business at 5.30pm.

A spokesman for Hounslow police said detectives were no longer investigating the raids - as there were no witnesses or CCTV evidence - unless forensic tests provided any leads.

He said the passing officer reported that he was dealing with the incident at 11.35am, as the burglary unit was busy with a priority residential break-in.

The spokesman added: “There were two other incidents and Mr Khan was the third one in the queue. Somebody should have said to Mr Khan why it took so long if he was unhappy.”