VANDALS believed to have deliberately set fire to an allotment have been slammed.

One Barrow allotment plot owner hit out after a shed was reportedly targeted by a group of youths in the latest of string of anti-social behaviour incidents at the site.

Fire crews spent over an hour at allotment plots on Barrow’s Flass Lane following the suspected arson.

Plot owner Bob Bell, 49, saw the damage when he visited the site in the morning to check his plot had not been affected.

He said a number of break-ins and incidents of vandalism at the site has prompted allotment holders to install cameras and launch patrols in the area at night themselves to look-out for youths.

Four fire crews from Barrow and Ulverston were sent to the scene to put out the blaze.

They used a hose reel jet to extinguish the fire after contending with the blaze for over an hour.

Hitting out after the fire on the disused plot, Mr Bell said: “The shed is burnt to the ground.

“The fire managed to get through a fence. The whole place could have gone right up.

“The gates to the site were still locked. Whoever did it has obviously jumped over them.”

The Bay View Grove resident said there had been a number of incidents of anti-social behaviour in the area over recent but trouble had been concentrated mainly on the allotments.

“They’ve been broken into before.

“It’s gone on for years.

“It’s ridiculous. It’s mainly older people that have got the plots.

“For someone to destroy something that people have worked really really hard on is disgusting.”

Mr Bell said allotment holders had learnt not to leave items at the site overnight for fear of them being stolen during break-ins.

“We’re definitely worried, we’ve spent a long time getting this to where it is.

“You leave your plot at night and wonder if it’s going to be there in the morning.”

Cumbria Police said they did not have a record of the fire incident.