A SELF employed man who had just launched his own business is now back to square one after a fire wiped out £10,000 of his machinery.

Clive Stacey, 42, had been running his engineering and joinery company called EJ Services, for just two months when it was hit by fire last week.

A car was torched just outside his unit on the West Wilts Trading Estate, and the heat set fire to the inside of the unit, destroying an internal wall reducing three of his most valuable machines to ashes.

Mr Stacey said: "The fire left me with a major problem but the trading estate managers have found me a temporary building for the next few months while my unit is rebuilt.

"It was touch and go whether we would be able to carry on because I lost so much stock in the fire, but the managers are trying everything they can to keep me going and we're hoping we can pull things back from the ashes."

Mr Stacey, who has a wife and two young children now has to put his house up as collateral while he tries to recover the business.

Westbury Police arrested a local man in connection with the car fire in the early hours of Thursday morning, and Mr Stacey had fierce words for the fire starter.

He said: "This person has no idea how much of an impact on our lives his actions have had. They simply showed no respect at all for other people's property, it makes me really sad."

He said the first few months were a crucial time for a new business and the fire couldn't have come at a worse time.

He said: "The problem with losing products in a fire is that there is abs-olutely no way of getting them back, or recouping the financial losses."

A family holiday may have to be cancelled too as the Staceys' trailer-tent was also damaged.