POLICE are investigating a déjà vu case of arson, the second in a year-and-a-half on the Silk Mills park and ride site, in Taunton.

Seven Somerset Council minibuses were destroyed in an identical blaze in a secure storage yard monitored by CCTV cameras on the park and ride site in August, 2023.

This time, the copycat arsonist destroyed four minibuses and a car, while three more minibuses were severely damaged.

A person was arrested by police several hours after the 2023 incident, but they were later release on bail pending further inquiries and no information was released about whether they were ever prosecuted or convicted of the crime.

Wellington firefighters were among those called to the latest incident on Saturday evening (April 26), which bore all the hallmarks of the 2023 firebombing.

The entrance to Taunton's Silk Mills park and ride site, where an arsonist has struck for the second time in little over a year and a half. PHOTO: Google Maps.
The entrance to Taunton's Silk Mills park and ride site, where an arsonist has struck for the second time in little over a year and a half. PHOTO: Google Maps. ( )

Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue (DSFR) received several 999 calls reporting vehicles were on fire in a secure compound on the sprawling site at about 7.45 pm.

It happened 90 minutes after the last bus of the day for the park and ride site, which is popular with residents in the Wellington and West Somerset areas who want to travel to the town’s Musgrove Park Hospital.

Two fire crews were initially mobilised from the Taunton station but on arrival they immediately called for more support and both Wellington pumps were sent to provide extra breathing apparatus and water.

Later, a water carrier from Taunton also attended in support of the firefighting operation.

A DSFR spokesperson said: “This was a fire involving four minibuses which were 100 per cent damaged by fire.

“A further three minibuses were 50 per cent damaged by fire.

“Crews used four breathing apparatus, two hose reel jets and a thermal imaging camera to extinguish the fire.

“The cause of the fire was deliberate.”

The wrecks of some of the 35 vehicles destroyed in an arson attack on Foxmoor Business Park, near Wellington.
Smouldering wreckage after an arson attack in 2023 destroyed 35 vehicles on Foxmoor Business Park, near Wellington. PHOTO: DSFR.

The park and ride site has 760 car parking spaces, 90 fewer than the Gateway site in Henlade, off the M5 motorway on the other side of Taunton, and buses run every 20 minutes throughout the day.

Stagecoach took over the operation of the site from First Bus last year with single fares capped at £1 to encourage more use.

In March, services from the Silk Mills site were suspended for several days following an unauthorised incursion by a large group of travellers who parked their caravans there.

• Two months after the destruction of the minibuses in 2023, an arsonist also struck a commercial compound on a business park just outside Wellington in October that year.

This fire destroyed 35 vehicles late at night on the Foxmoor Business Park, off the Chelston to M5 junction 26 link road.

Seven fire crews from Wellington, Taunton, Bridgwater, and Torquay spent all night fighting the blaze, but police said at the time there was nothing to link the incident with the Silk Mills firebombing.

No information was ever provided by police on whether the Foxmoor Business Park arsonist was ever caught.