Published: Friday, 18th July, 2008 5:00pm

Parked cars torched in early hours

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Some of the burnt-out cars
Pic by: Adam Hewitt

FIVE cars torched in a late-night arson spree sat directly under a CCTV camera.

But neighbours say the lights in Kensington Road car park, in west Reading, never work making the camera useless.

The fires were started at 1.15am on Friday morning, leaving the five cars parked in a row completely gutted. A purple Ford Mondeo, red Vauxhall Cavalier, grey Renault Laguna, blue Ford Galaxy and blue convertible Renault Megane were burnt out.

One woman using the car park, who asked not be named, said: "They've got to do something about this car park, the lights are never working, you never know who's down here."

Another man added: "There's always so much trouble round here, it's a real hotspot for yobs."

One resident called the Chronicle to say he had been woken by the tyres exploding, adding: "It happens so often I could almost tell you the size and diameter of the tyres."

Fire crews from Caversham Road and Dee Road spent half an hour extinguishing the flaming wrecks, but it was already too late to save the cars.

Full story in Wednesday's Midweek.