Bosses at a Rochford garage have been left counting the cost after a blaze left six cars destroyed and three badly damaged.

Co-owner of the Whittingham Renault garage Mark Whittingham said the scene was like "Beirut" when he arrived for work on Saturday morning.

Firefighters in two appliances rushed to the garage in West Road, Rochford, at around 10.30pm on Friday.

It took officers around 20 minutes to bring the fires under control, but the damage caused could run into tens of thousands of pounds. Arson is suspected.

Mr Whittingham said: "My cousin David was the first to hear about the fire, I didn't know anything about it until I arrived for work this morning.

"It looked like Beirut when I arrived. I was so shocked. Nothing like this has ever happened at the garage before and we have been here for years.

"Six cars have been completely written off and three others were badly damaged.

"Some of the cars were only four years old and a four year-old car could sell for about £6,000. We have probably lost thousands of pounds because of this but I haven't yet worked out the full cost."

However, Mark added the damage could have been a lot worse. He said: "Luckily most of our petrol is kept underground or round the back of the garage. It would have been a disaster if that had caught alight.

"It is also a good thing we put most of our cars inside at night."

Fire officers are carrying out an investigation into the blaze, which they are treating as suspicious.

Burnt - cars on forecourt

Picture: STEPHEN LLOYD

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