Bus arson to cost €300k

GARDAÍ are searching for arsonists who destroyed two buses, thought to be worth more than €300,000.

Garda technical experts were yesterday shifting through the remains of the buses looking for clues to the identity of the arsonists.

The buses, owned by Bus Éireann, were set alight adjacent to the old railway station in Midleton, Co Cork, at around 4am yesterday.

Kathleen Woulfe, a former town councillor, said she and her husband, Michael, who live in a nearby house, were awoken by the sound of windows exploding in the buses. “It was frightening,” she said.

Bus Éireann area manager Joe Fitzgerald said the buses were used for regional services and one of them was only three years old.

“They were used on services from Ballycotton and Whitegate into Midleton and Cork and were regularly parked there. We were lucky that we were informed about it around an hour after it happened, so we were able to get replacement vehicles in.

“It will cost in the region of €300,000 to replace the buses,” Mr Fitzgerald said.

Superintendent Flor Horan, who is leading the investigation, said gardaí were treating the fire, which happened at McSweeney Terrace, as suspicious.

The suspected arson attack comes just 24 hours after another incident in the town.

Supt Horan said vandals caused thousands of euro worth of damage to an amenity walk on the other side of the town at about 1am last Sunday.

“They pulled down fencing and set fire to a picnic table on the amenity walk at Bailick, which is near the Chadwick’s store,” the superintendent said.

He appealed to anybody who was in that area and anybody who saw anything suspicious near the old railway station to contact gardaí.

Anybody with information is asked to contact Midleton Garda Station at 021-4631324.