Arsonists have left cash-strapped St Luke's Hospice to foot the bill after starting a fire which damaged its Basildon charity shop.

The hospice could face having to divert vital cash from patient care to pay for the damage.

The blaze, in a skip next to the South Walk store, was one of six which were started in skips in Basildon at around midnight on Friday.

The hospice already has to make up a £100,000 shortfall in funds this year, partly caused by the Government's increase in pay for nurses.

Barry Sansom, administration manager at the hospice, said: "Our shops make a major contribution to the running costs of the hospital.

"The money spent fixing fire damage or vandalism or anything else is taking money away from patients. It's a simple equation.

"It's directly putting the most vulnerable people in our community at risk - it's quite abhorrent."

He said he had not yet seen the damage at the shop but was going to the town centre today to assess what repairs were needed.

But he stressed the important thing was to keep trading and keep the money coming in.

Station Officer Bill Newton, of Basildon fire station, said damage had been caused to the St Luke's sign and the front of the shop.

He said the situation was potentially very dangerous, especially considering the number of fires which had been started and the ease with which they could have spread.

He said: "We had to spread the appliances out around the town to cover them all. Two skips full of rubbish were set on fire at the back of a sports store, one of which very nearly spread.

"We got there just in time. Anything could have happened. The skips generate a lot of heat.

"People put all sorts of things in there. You often get aerosols going off."

The other skips set alight were in the area of the Allders Store.

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