Man quizzed following £200,000 arson attack
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III A Yorkshire man is on bail after a blaze at a operator's base left it with a 1200,000 bill for 10 damaged vehicles.
The fire, believed to have been the latest in a series of arson attacks, struck Sutton-onForest firm E Harper (York) at night, even though a night watchman was on duty.
Six tankers and drain cleaning vehicles were destroyed; four needed repair.
Seven out of a workforce of 38 have been laid off.
General manager Russell Saville says: "The fire took ten of our 19 vehicles and some of them are extremely specialised and can't be replaced just like that. But we're still trucking. We've hired in some vehicles and are maintaining all of our contracts and continuing to bounce back as fast and as well as we can."
Saville says he is perplexed by the attack and "unaware that the company has crossed swords with anyone". North Yorkshire police are continuing their investigation.
0 There have been several major arson attacks on the haulage industry this year. Other victims include Sabre Transport of Esses, which lost all its five vehicles; and D&R Hankins from Cambridgeshire, which also had five trucks burnt out and suffered damage to two more. But the worst hit victims have been Milk Marque and two of its milk subcontractors, Wincanton and Tanker Freight—between them they lost 29 tankers in simultaneous attacks.