ASOS' only warehouse faces arson attack

[Sharon]

Tonnes of clothes are feared to be destroyed after a fire ripped through four floors of fashion giant ASOS's only British warehouse. More than 50 firefighters were called on Friday night to the firm's headquarters in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, which is the size of six football pitches and handles £1.2billion in sales a year. No one was injured but 500 staff were evacuated and thousands of potential customers left in limbo after the company replaced its website with a message saying it was 'pausing' all new orders. Today the firm said customers would be able to apply for refunds as photos emerged of a huge pile of shoes, shirts and dresses outside the warehouse.

'Customers will either receive a full refund or get their orders as soon as possible.' Mr Smallwood could not confirm what proportion of the firm's stock was damaged, but said: 'As in any fire there are some items that are fire damaged, some that are smoke damaged and some that are water damaged.' Customers calling this morning had difficulty confirming whether their orders had been disrupted or when the service would be back online.

Though most expressed sympathy for the staff, some complained about the fire on Twitter:
@Lameese_Yousif said: 'Can't believe I probably won't receive my prom dress. Thanks alot ASOS', while @HeyItsJoy added: 'Thanks asos... I really wanted to order today aswell. Can we all get free next day delivery pls pls.'

A statement on the website for ASOS, short for As Seen On Screen, said: 'Dear Customers, we have pressed pause on the ASOS website, this is due to a fire in our Barnsley distribution centre in the early hours of Saturday morning.

don't get how people can go on moaning in such a stupid way as if asos have purposely delayed orders for fun lol... unless you want ur prom dress half burnt :S just glad no1 was hurt

[MKR&*42]

Love how they blame ASOS (the twitter people) cause im sure asos really wanted their factory on fire =]]]]] #logic. Anyway it's nice they're offering a refund and that they're handling it well.

[lemons]

yh people blaming ASOS are annoying

[Hannah]

Considering the situation ASOS are dealing with it exceptionally well offering full refunds.
Luckily noone was hurt out of their large staff base, and hopefully the people who start complaining get hit with the karma they deserve.

[dirrty]

hope they're back online tomorrow/tuesday as i wanna buy some clothes for my holiday on thuuuuursday

[Naturlee]

what a shame for asos ;[ glad I ordered a couple of weeks ago and not now !!

[jesus]

i just sent them a pair of £300 levis back for a refund i hope they dont mess me about

[Oleh]

Was going to get a summer job there as well, as my mate works there and says it's decent. bloody arsonists

[sex]

what a shame hopefully it doesn't do t much damage to them

[Alkaz]

I forgot about my friends birthday on Saturday so I quickly purchased something at 21:55 on Friday for next day delivery then got the email from them. I was gutted and mortified I only turned up with a card.