£6m fleet fire hits Strathclyde
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• About 60 buses and coaches were gutted in a fire which swept through Strathclyde Buses' largest depot and headquarters at Larkfield last week.
Strathclyde Police are appealing for witnesses to the incident on Monday 18 May. They are still trying to find out whether the fire, reported by night staff at 01:30hrs, was a criminal act.
"We are treating the incident as a simple fire — we are still trying to establish the cause of it," says Detective Inspector John Corrigan.
Strathclyde Buses is evaluating the cost of the fire, which destroyed an airport-style hangar and most of the vehicles parked underneath it, as well as part of a nearby office.
Staff at the site managed to save a few of the vehicles under the hangar, which housed about a quarter of the 266 vehicles at Larkfield.
Most of the damaged vehicles are double-deckers which will cost around £100,000 apiece to replace, and Strathclyde predicts a total cost of around £6m is likely.
The incident is not expected to hold up the planned sale of the 800-vehicle business to its management and staff, It is imminent now that Labour-cont rolled owner Strathclyde Regional Council favours its bid over that of Brian Souter of giant operator Stagecoach. The company is waiting for approval from the Scottish Secretary of State, Ian Lang, but this is believed to be no more than a formality as the Conservative Government is anxious to progress the privatisation of local authority owned bus operators.