A COUPLE fled to safety after an early morning arson attack in the drive at their Ipswich home.A 26-year-old man who lives in the house in Davey Close, today called for CCTV cameras to be installed after thugs set fire to rubbish in a wheelie bin and the blaze spread causing thousands of pounds of damage.

A COUPLE fled to safety after an early morning arson attack in the drive at their Ipswich home.

A 26-year-old man who lives in the house in Davey Close, today called for CCTV cameras to be installed after thugs set fire to rubbish in a wheelie bin and the blaze spread causing thousands of pounds of damage.

The early morning blaze wrote off his girlfriend's £2,000 car, damaged his vehicle, shattered a window and melted the guttering of his terraced house.

"The first thing I knew about it was when I heard an explosion and suspected a tyre had blown out," said the man, who did not want to be named. "I looked out the window and saw the driver's side of the car on fire.

"We got out of the house. I was worried about it catching fire." He was also concerned for the safety of neighbouring properties. "This is only a short row of houses," he said.

"I can't get my head around it and don't understand the mentality. You try to help people and this happens. My girlfriend is pretty distraught and upset about the whole thing."

His girlfriend only had the car a month and was learning to drive in it. The man's car was also damaged in the blaze.

He is now calling for CCTV to be put up on the small alleyway next to his home which links to the Greenwich estate and Landseer Road.

The blaze is believed to have started when rubbish in a wheelie bin was set alight and then placed next to the car on the driveway at 2 am on Wednesday.

Anyone with any information should call Ipswich Police on 01473 613500.