MEMBERS of Calne Bowls Club fear vandals deliberately tried to destroy their clubhouse when they torched a stolen car inches from the wooden walls.

The Vauxhall Astra was stolen from Penn Hill Road in the early hours of Friday morning and driven between a bollard and some granite boulders in the car park at the Recreation Club, in Anchor Road.

A neighbour noticed the flames and alerted firefighters at 5.10am. They arrived within minutes and managed to contain the fire, preventing it from destroying the hut .

The fire, however, extensively damaged the men's changing hut which means it will be out of use for some time.

Club treasurer, Bryan Tovey, said: "It is a shock. It's like an accident. You think it's never going to happen to me.

"It's a shock to find this sort of thing on your own doorstep. We haven't experienced much vandalism in this area."

Mr Tovey, 72, of Curzon Close, said the care taken by the thieves to park the vehicle so close to the 30ft building, in a closely confined parking space, suggested the offenders may have deliberately attempted to burn the clubhouse down.

"Normally you would have expected joy riders just to dump the car in the car park, which I would have thought would be completely empty at that time in the morning," he said.

"But it would have taken some careful driving to manoeuvre the car alongside the hut because three feet behind it were three granite rocks, and three feet in front of it was a large concrete bollard.

"The whole incident just seems absolutely pointless and I really can't see what people get out of doing it.

"I wouldn't say it was prevalent, but four or five cars have been burnt and then abandoned around Calne in the past few months."

PC Windsor Hudd of Calne Police Station said: "The car was left close to the wooden building and when a car goes up it creates a fireball, which causes collateral damage."

He said they were treating the incident as arson and appealed for anyone with information to contact the police.

The fire burnt a large six foot by three foot hole through the rear of the men's changing room.

The entire rear wall, however, was left badly charred and will have to be replaced. There was smoke damage in the roof, and power to the hut has been switched off because electrical wiring was also damaged.

Mr Tovey said if firefighters had not responded so quickly the fire could have destroyed expensive bowls kits and jacks, as well as the club's honours boards which show all the club's competition winners since its foundation in 1904.

He said the crews had not damaged the bowling green which meant there would be no disruption to the club's busy summer fixture list.

Six years ago play was disrupted when vandals dug holes in the green.

The club has 70 members and plays an average of five matches a week during the season, from April to September.

Mr Tovey said members will have to share the women's hut while building work is carried out.

In the meantime, the rear wall will be boarded up and the hut will undergo a cleaning up operation.

Anyone with information on the fire should contact Calne Police on (01249) 812106.