A MECHANIC whose Graveley garage was destroyed by arsonists has vowed to bounce back after being forced out of the village.

Charlie Potter was forced to move Milestone Motor Company to a smaller unit in Windover Court, Huntingdon, after the fire on October 10 last year.

He woke up at 3.30am to find the firm, which he had taken 14 years to build up ,was going up in smoke, destroyed the car maintenance workshop and about 15 vehicles inside, all of which belonged to customers.

He has lost the use of the Toseland Road premises, as the lease is due to run out shortly, but hopes to find new accommodation in Graveley once he is back on his feet.

At the time Mr Potter described the incident as “horrifying”, adding: “It was a pure nightmare. I can’t see why anyone would want to do anything like that.”

In the meantime he says he has had fantastic support from his regular customers, many of whom have driven the extra distance to have their cars attended to by him.

“We are battling on and certainly haven’t given up,” said Mr Potter, who had been at the Toseland Road premises for five years. The mechanic is still waiting to see whether the cost of the blaze will be covered by insurance.

“Most of our customer base is over towards St Neots but they have been coming over here. People have been 100 per cent supportive.”

On February 24, five months after the attack on Milestone Motor Company, a motorhome next door to where the garage used to be in Toseland Road cauight fire at 2am.

Firefighters from Papworth, St Neots and Huntingdon were called to extinguish the flames and to cool a gas cylinder inside the motorhome until it was safe to remove.

A Cambridgeshire police spokesman said it was not known how the fire had started and that it was not being treated as suspicious.