The Porthampton Bugle

The trial of the teenagers accused of starting the fire at the scrap yard on Winston Churchill Road ended this week.

The scrap yard owner, Terry Long, lost all of his 500 car stock; the fire causing damage running into many tens of thousands of pounds.

Numerous explosions were heard as the fire spread through the cars, vans and trucks held within the yard.

David Garvock, from Porthampton Fire Service, said at the time: “The stacked cars, heavy smoke and small explosions from residual fuel in the petrol tanks made this a tough job for the firefighters on hand.”

The pair were found guilty of arson with reckless endangerment of life and sentenced to 4 years each as well as a two year ASBO on their release.