'Ruined for five minutes of fun': Car owner blasts arson vandals

Mica-Jane Jones, 21, and Richard Beckingham, 22, were woken up by neighbours banging on their door at 5am this morning, Thursday July 23, with the news their car was on fire.

The young couple rushed outside to the nearby car park where they saw their car, a blue BMW 318I, going up in flames.

Dorset Fire and Rescue Service were alerted to the car blaze at 4.39am in the Kestrel View area of Littlemoor, and two fire crews from Weymouth were sent to the scene.

Dorset Police are now investigating the circumstances of the incident and have launched a witness appeal in a bid to find those responsible.

Pictures by Richard Beckingham

Crews tackled the fire using two sets of breathing apparatus and two hose reel jets, and a second fire engine was requested for the use of fire fighting foam.  

The fire service believes the cause to have been deliberate and the car was completely destroyed by the fire.

Miss Jones, who works at tReds shoes head office store on Lyne Lane, said the car was worth approximately £8,000 and both her and her boyfriend had worked hard to be able to afford it.

She added: “My sister is getting married in Dunstable in six weeks and our car was meant to be used as their wedding vehicle.

“Now we have no idea how we’re even going to get to her wedding, let alone anything else.

“Whoever did this has scuppered everything for us just for five minutes of fun that was really not worth it.

“We worked hard to save that money to afford the car and make a good life for ourselves and someone has ruined that in a split second for nothing more than a laugh.”

Miss Jones added that she and her boyfriend rely on the car daily and now have they been left without any independence.

She said the fire service told her that the car’s fuel tank had been split open and the petrol that was spilt on the floor was then set alight.

She said she is hopeful for something to be done by the police but added that Littlemoor ‘has a reputation’ for arson attacks.

Miss Jones said after hearing of her car fire, two sets of neighbours revealed that their cars had also been set alight previously.

The arson attack comes after police stepped up patrols in the area in January last year and labelled the arson attacks as ‘highly irresponsible and extremely dangerous’.

Police also warned offenders that these types of incidents ‘would not be tolerated’.

Anyone with any information on the incident should call Dorset Police on 101 quoting incident number 23:47.