Burnt-out; Careless crooks set cars alight in theft bid.

Byline: SARA NICHOL

ATTEMPTED car thieves started a blaze that wrecked four vehicles.

The blundering crooks tried to hotwire a vehicle parked in Newcastle's Central Station car park, but sparks caused a neighbouring car, belonging to a hairdresser and loaded with bleach and aerosols, to explode.

Flames quickly engulfed four cars and police and fire crews were called to the scene where they took an hour to bring the blaze under control.

The startled thieves were caught on CCTV fleeing the scene but dropped a bag as they made their getaway on foot.

Hairdresser Jo Buck was stunned when she returned from London to find her car burnt out and surrounded by police cones.

Jo, 36, from Ashington, said: "I left the car in the car park when I got a train to London on Tuesday. "I got back around 7.30 last night and as I was walking along the platform I just saw cones surrounding my car. I thought someone had reversed into it at first but as I got closer it was black.

"The tyres had melted to the ground. It was unrecognisable. There were no windows in the back of the car, in fact there was hardly any back on the car.

"The car next to mine was worse. You would have no idea what colour it was or what make of car it was.

"I was just in complete shock but the station manager came over and explained what had happened.

"Two thieves had tried to hot-wire the car next to mine and the sparks had set my car alight. They couldn't have chosen a worse car. "Because I'm a hairdresser, it was full of aerosols and bleach and it would have gone up like a load of fireworks in the back of my car."

Today, the burnt-out shells are in the station as police wait for one of the owners to return.

Crews from Colby Court fire station tackled the blaze and took nearly an hour to bring it under control.

A spokesman from Colby Court said: "We attended Central Station car park, on Neville Street, at around 11.25pm on Wednesday, July 22.

"The fire involved four cars and it took us around 50 minutes to control."

Jo said she had no idea how much the damage would cost her.

"I dread to think how much damage was caused," she said.

"What bothers me more is that the car was full of notes and information I had collected over two years about different salons around the country, which is irreplaceable."

British Transport Police confirmed they are investigating the incident.

CAPTION(S):

WRECKED: Fire-damaged cars at the Newcastle Central Station car park behind the Royal Station Hotel