A car wash that has been operating near one of the busiest roads in Bradford without planning permission faces the prospect of being closed down.

Bradford Council has refused a retrospective planning application that would have allowed the “unauthorised” Dr Shine Car Wash, on Keighley Road, opposite Lister Park, to continue operating.

The Council said it first started receiving complaints about the operation last summer and said it would consider “further action” if the site continued to be used as a car wash.

The decision comes as a bitter blow for businessman Khalid Abdullah, from West Bowling, who had been hoping to bring his family over from Iraq once the business turned profitable.

The 33-year-old said he bought the Dr Shine Car Wash off his friend for £2,200 a month ago and renamed it Persia Car Wash.

He said he had left Iraq seven years ago after his father and brother were killed during the conflict.

Mr Abdullah, who said he was given a British passport after seeking asylum in the UK, believing the business had the necessary planning permission.

But a local councillor said he should have known better.

Mr Abdullah went to the Council to ask about renaming the business, and was told that he had no permission to operate there at all. He lodged a retrospective planning application last month, but on Friday that was turned down.

“I just wanted to start a business and am very upset,” Mr Abdullah said. “I have spent £7,000 doing the car park up and building my little office.”

Council planners said the car wash had inadequate car parking and could lead to traffic queuing on the busy Keighley Road.

They also said the car wash equipment and signage detracted from the character and appearance of the adjacent listed building and the St Paul’s and North Park Road Conservation opposite the site”.

Ward Councillor Shabir Hussain (Lab, Manningham) said anybody buying a car wash should always check it already had planning permission.

He said: “You can’t operate a car wash without planning permission, and then put a retrospective planning application in – people should know better.

“You have to take everything into consideration – the highways, the conservation area, the location and what effect it will have on the surrounding area.”

Planning officials have not ruled out action, possibly enforcement action, if the car wash does not stop operating at the site, just yards from the Saffron restaurant.

The site is also just 70 metres away from the site of eight slight and one serious accident, the Council has said.