POLICE are treating as arson a fire at a storage plant which caused hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Firefighters took more than two hours to douse the flames at Professional Flooring Services at Tanfield Lea Industrial Estate, near Stanley, County Durham.

Bosses at the firm yesterday gave assurances that the plant would reopen and the jobs of the 19 employees were secure.

Firefighters were called out at 2.15am yesterday, but by then the premises were already well alight. An abandoned car was on fire against the side wall of the building.

Several fire engines were needed to tackle the blaze, which was finally extinguished at 4.30am.

Scenes of crime officers and detectives from Consett CID were carrying out investigations at the industrial estate yesterday.

A spokesman for the force said it was thought that the cause of the blaze was the car which was set on fire.

It seemed that the flames from the vehicle had spread quickly to the unit.

The car was a white Citroen AX three-door saloon. The last registered keeper was a man from Wallsend, Tyneside, but he had recently informed the authorities that he no longer owned it.

Police are keen to establish where it had been in the past few days or weeks. The registration number was H327 BTY.

Detective inspector Simon Orton said: "The fire caused an enormous amount of damage and we are treating it as arson.

"One of our first tasks will be to trace who has been using the Citroen car recently."

The manager at Professional Flooring Services, Chris Senior, said operations had been transferred elsewhere.

He said: "We have had our own people assessing the situation since the early hours of the morning, but I can assure people that we plan to continue operating in the area."

Consett CID can be contacted on (01207) 504204.