Residents and business owners in south Manchester have spoken of their shock and fear after a man was stabbed in his car in the early hours of Thursday, August 13. A stretch of Fog Lane, close to Burnage train station, was cordoned off with crime scene tape following the incident, which police were called to at around 1:30am.
The man suffered serious injuries and was taken to hospital, while a female passenger was uninjured. A man and a woman have since been arrested in connection with the attack.
Businesses affected by cordon
Shops on the street were unable to open until the scene was taken down around 9:30am. A female shopkeeper expressed her worry about working alone in the evenings, saying the incident made her feel the area is not safe.
Sayeh Veisy, from Samy Mini Market, said: "The police were here and they didn't let me to come to the store until 10am. Usually we are open from 8am to 10pm but last night, until 10pm, I didn't see anything, and I know that whatever has happened was after 10pm. I came here this morning but the police were in this area, and I couldn't come to the store, so I went home and came back at 10am."
She added: "Of course it's scary because I'm alone here at night and it's dark so it makes me really scared what happened. It makes me think it’s not a safe area for me and that I need to more cautious."
Shopkeepers describe changing area
Mohammed Hadji, from Fog Lane Laundrette and Dry Cleaners, said he was not shocked by the incident, adding that the area is no longer 'peaceful'. He said: "We close at 6pm, so it must have happened after that. I didn't see because I'm always sitting in the office. I opened at half nine this morning because the police were blocking it off until then. It doesn't shock me at all. There's been a change, you know. It's very harsh everything now. It used to be a very good area, it was never like this. But nowadays I see a lot of new faces around here. It's sad, it used to be a very peaceful place."
Shahrukh, from East West Continental Foods, described being stopped by police when trying to park. He said: "When I came in about quarter to seven, I was trying to park, but the police said stopped me. I wanted to access my back gate, but they said no. It was from the laundrette up to quite far on, so it was affecting a lot of shops. Another shop owner gave me their number and let me know when it all reopened at like half nine this morning. I saw some clothes on the floor and there was the forensic team taking some pictures of them. It didn't really look like an accident, it looked like something serious. Normally if a small thing happened, they're not gonna take that long but they were probably there for about nine and a half hours."
Police statement and arrests
A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the incident, which police described as 'isolated'. In a statement, a GMP spokesperson said: "Officers were called to reports of an assault on Fog Lane in Burnage at around 1:30am this morning (Thursday 13 August 2026). A man suffered serious injuries after being stabbed whilst sat in his car. He was taken to hospital for treatment. A woman passenger was uninjured. One woman was arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to commit assault and a man arrested on suspicion of assault. They remain in police custody. This is an isolated incident with no wider threat to the public. Enquiries are ongoing."
