Police have launched a probe after a car was found engulfed in flames outside a troubled former Scots restaurant. Emergency services were called to a fire in Main Street in Bothwell after midnight on Thursday at the site of former San Vincenzo Restaurant.
A vehicle was found ablaze outside the former upmarket restaurant and the fire had spread to the exterior of the building causing minor damage. No one was injured and a probe is now underway.
The incident comes after a series of incidents at the restaurant eventually led the owner Vincent Marini to shut his doors in October 2019. He previously claimed there had been a "targeted campaign" and a "sustained effort" to drive him out of business.
Shortly before shutting up shop, a red Vauxhall Corsa was deliberately driven through a large window of the building before being set on fire. Horrified locals watched as massive 50ft flames leapt from the property.
Thousands of pounds of damage was caused to the popular Italian eatery, leading to the closure. The ram-raid was the third attack on the restaurant in months.
In another attack in September 2019 a vehicle was torched outside the property, whilst back in the June of that year a pick-up truck was captured on CCTV as it smashed through a window straight into the restaurant before speeding off.
Then, on March 1 this year, police and the fire service were called to the closed-down eatery just before midnight amid reports of a blaze. The building has also vandalised in a series of attacks.
In March 2020, months after the ramraid, owner Vincent Marini claimed there was a "sustained effort" to drive him out of business and he posted on Facebook, “Sadly, they won” before putting the restaurant on the market.
A spokeswoman for Police Scotland said today: "Around 12.20am, a fire was reported in a car parked on Ferry Road at Main Street, Bothwell. The vehicle was extensively damaged and a nearby restaurant sustained minor damage.
“Anyone with information is asked to contact police via 101 quoting reference number 0070 of Thursday, June 30, 2022.
"Alternatively, details can be passed anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.”
"An SFRS spokeswoman said: "We got a call at 12.10am on Thursday, June 6, to Main Street in Bothwell, after a report there was a derelict building on fire, across from the Co-op.
"Three appliances were sent. One private car was alight. It was a car that was called into us as a possible building fire but it was actually the car that was on fire.
"Police Scotland attended."
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