Buses destroyed in suspected arson attack

Nov 7 2009 by Sophie Doughty, The Journal

A COACH company boss is today counting the cost of an arson attack which reduced his family firm to ashes.

Suspected arsonists caused around £200,000 of damage when they torched seven coaches at the depot of Style Travel, on the Seaview Industrial Estate, in Horden, County Durham, on Thursday night.

Last night as police continued to question three men arrested in connection with the blaze, the company’s owner Peter Grufferty was counting the cost of the seemingly senseless attack.

He said: “I’m absolutely gutted. We do a lot of old people’s trips and a lot of community work and I am just really disappointed that we will have to let people down.

“We are just a small family firm. When I saw it I just felt physically sick.”

Hundreds of children in east Durham were yesterday forced to make alternative travel arrangements to get to school on time as the company operates school run contracts on behalf of the local education authority.

Four fire crews from Peterlee, Seaham and Durham City fire stations spent four hours tackling the blaze, which was reported at 11.45pm, on Thursday.

Three men aged 22, 23, and 28 have been arrested and are helping police with their inquiries.

A Durham Police spokesman said: “We are investigating a fire at the Seaview Industrial Estate. Officers on patrol at 11.45pm yesterday discovered coaches on fire and the fire brigade attended.

“An estimated £200,000-worth of damage was caused during the incident and we are treating the fire as suspicious.”

After the blaze was extinguished Peter’s main priority was to scramble one of the remaining coaches in time for a planned journey to take local veterans down to London for the Remembrance Day events on Sunday.