CARAVAN owners are today worrying about the safety of their vehicles following a fire at a Suffolk farm.Hope Farm at Sproughton which houses up to 100 caravans at any one time may now possibly lose customers as a result of the blaze which destroyed three caravans and severely scorched two others.

By Georgina James

CARAVAN owners are today worrying about the safety of their vehicles following a fire at a Suffolk farm.

Hope Farm at Sproughton which houses up to 100 caravans at any one time may now possibly lose customers as a result of the blaze which destroyed three caravans and severely scorched two others.

Dennis and Ruby Clark who own one of the caravans which was seriously damaged by the fire spoke of their concerns.

"The problem with this site is that it's not very secure and anyone can gain access through the hedges.

"I believe there has been trouble here in the past of caravans being stolen.

"We are not sure if our caravan is repairable as one side has been badly singed and the windows have been twisted by the heat," said Mr Clark.

Mrs Clark added: "We only brought our caravan here two weeks ago so we haven't had much luck.

"Another five minutes and ours would have been destroyed as well.

"I don't think we will bother replacing it if ours is a write-off."

Michael Johnson, 57 who has stored his caravan on the land for the past eight years said the fire was the last straw.

"It's really bad and I have decided to move my motor home off the field right quick.

"I normally leave it as far away from the road as possible but following the fire I now leave it by the side of the house in full view of the security cameras."

Over the weekend the clear-up operation began and as a precautionary measure many people were at the farm removing gas cylinders from their vans.

Although the exact cause of the fire is not yet known many caravan owners believe it to be the work of arson.

One lady said: "I have my own ideas what happened. It doesn't take a genius to work it out.

"Our caravan is our pride and joy and is devastating to think that we could have lost it."

Kenneth Barber, 82, the proprietor said: "I am very disappointed and extremely upset by the whole incident.

"Caravans just don't go up in flames like that. The grass was really wet that night and it just doesn't add up."

The fire broke out at about 9.55pm on Friday night.