A HADLEIGH man and his daughter have told of their shock at being woken up in the middle of the night to find the family car burning outside their house.

A HADLEIGH man and his daughter have told of their shock at being woken up in the middle of the night to find the family car burning outside their house.

Wayne Clements and his daughter Kelly woke up at 1am yesterday morning to see their Ford Granada in flames outside their house in Cranworth Road.

They immediately called the fire brigade, who sent an appliance from the town to deal with the flames at 1.17am.

It appeared that thugs had smashed in the passenger side window of the car, throwing in a can on petrol before torching the vehicle, leaving it a charred ruin. The fire is being treated as an arson attack,

Arson attacks are becoming an increasing problem in Hadleigh, which has seen a huge rise in car fires over the last two months.

Mr Clements, 38, who works as a postman in the town, said: "I'm going to have to contact my insurance company, as the car is a total write-off.

"When I came out to see what had happened, there was nobody anywhere to be seen. It was the dog, Meg, that had woken us up barking. The fire crew came pretty quickly and had the situation under control, but the chief told me that whoever had done it had left a can of petrol in the car.

"I liked the car - it was a nice, convenient family car."

There was also a car fire in Blackbourne Road, Elmswell at 1.10am yesterday morning.

Anyone with information about the fires, should call Suffolk Police on 01473 613500, or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.