Five cars were set on fire in Dundee in less than four hours with one owner speaking of the irreplaceable damage it has caused.
Richard Martin had recently returned home from holiday in St Andrews and taken his car, a red Peugeot 206 that he has owned for six months, to the garage for repair.
It was parked outside the garage forecourt, ready for him to collect.
He then received a call at about 8am on Thursday morning telling him that there was a problem and his car had been set on fire.
Richard, who works as a sales rep, said: “I was just in disbelief and am trying to process everything.
“You wonder why anyone would want to do that.
“It’s also left me quite angry as well.
“You think maybe it was vandals but it could have been anyone.
“You just wonder what their reason is.”
And he says that while the car can be replaced, some of the items inside cannot.
He added: “I’m thankful that I have enough money to buy another car. It is what it is — that can be replaced.
“I had some valuable items in the car as well.
“I had not long returned from holiday so had some clothes in the car, and vinyl records I was going to take to a charity shop. I had fishing rods as well.
Irreplaceable valuable items
“I also had my grandad’s binoculars in there. He died last year and I was given them by my gran. I can never get those back.”
Richard’s car was not the only to be torched in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The car parked next to his was also burned and a neighbouring third was also badly damaged.
Earlier on that same evening a car in nearby Larch Street, close to the city centre, was torched.
A fifth vehicle was also set alight in Ballumbie later.
It is not known if the incidents are linked.
Fires were hours apart from each other
A spokeswoman for Scottish Fire and Rescue Service (SFRS) said they were called to the three reports and that all were from members of the public who had dialled 999.
She added: “We received a call at 12.45am that a car was on fire in Larch Street.
“We sent one appliance from Kingsway and they extinguished the fire.”
She went onto say that just over two hours later they received reports of the two cars on fire in Brewery Lane.
She said: “The appliance had made its way back to the Kingsway station when we received further calls at around 3am that two cars were on fire at Brewery Lane.
“Because it was two vehicles on fire we had to send two appliances.”
Just over an hour later, at 4.19am the fire service received a report of another car fire in the Ballumbie area.
The spokeswoman said: “Initial reports suggested this was a house fire so we sent one appliance from Balmossie and one from the Kingsway.
“However, when the teams got there it was another car on fire so one appliance was able to leave.”
Police Scotland say officers are treating the Larch Street and Brewery Lane incidents as suspicious.
A spokesperson said: “We can confirm that an investigation is underway after officers in Dundee were called to assist the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service on Larch Street and Brewery Lane, in the early hours of Thursday, November 18, following reports of three cars on fire.
“The fires are being treated as suspicious and enquiries remain ongoing.”
Police did not attend the car blaze in Ballumbie.
