Blackpool mum distraught after cars set alight as her daughters worry the ‘bad guys will come back’

A police investigation is under way after a young mum had her car set alight outside her home in the early hours of the morning, with her kids left asking if the ‘bad guys will return’.

Holly Youngson woke to a knock on the door from the emergency services at around 5.30am on Sunday morning (14 May). A police officer and fireman informed the mum-of-two that her car, a grey Ford Focus – that she has only owned for two months – had been set on fire.

The 23-year-old has lived on Portree Road in the Kincraig area of Bispham, Blackpool, for three years, along with her two daughters. Having only just passed her test, Holly has been using her car to get to and from the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan) in Preston, where she is currently studying to become a nurse.

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Holly’s boyfriend, Ryan, stays with the family at weekends and had his car parked next to hers when the incident occurred. Holly told LancsLive: “He’s always parked his car in the bay and I’ve never known my friends to have any problems when they’ve been parking their car.

“My boyfriend’s never had his car robbed or vandalised whilst staying at mine. So, to get that knock on the door from the police to alert me that my car was on fire was absolutely shocking.

“I just couldn’t even process what I was looking at and I was still half asleep as well because they knocked on my door at around half five in the morning and I woke up to my dog barking.”

Holly knew that something serious must have happened, after she was forced to answer her door at the early hour. She added: “I answered the door and the policeman said, do you own a black Ford Focus? I said no sorry, I own a grey one and he turned around and said, ‘well you now own a burnt one’ – in his words.

“Immediately, tears flooded and my heart was racing and I was thinking ‘what on earth?’. I ran out of the house and down the street to see my car just smashed and burnt.”

When Holly ran out to see her car, she noticed Ryan’s car that was parked beside hers had also been damaged. In regards to Holly’s, the bonnet seemed to take the biggest hit from the flames, with the fire spreading to the back of the car, as underneath the car, the boot and the back lights had been destroyed.

Holly says she doesn’t “have a clue” who would have committed the crime, but did describe it as “mindless vandalism”. She says there needs to be CCTV in the area, as none of the houses or flats face the main road, so personal doorbells with cameras wouldn’t have captured the perpetrators. A jerry can was found by the car, which had been used to exacerbate the fire and create more damage. Holly said: “It’s frightening as well, do they know me? Was there a reason that I’m not aware of?

“As far as I know, I’m not a trouble-causing neighbour, I keep myself to myself. I’m a student nurse so I’m out of the house most of the day and the girls are at nursery and I have a very small friendship group and the friends that I associate with aren’t criminals or have criminal backgrounds.”

The incident hasn’t just had an emotional affect on Holly, but a financial one too. She said: “I didn’t set my car on fire but now I’ve got to pay excess fees. I’ve had the car for two months, I took it out on finance, I’ve not had a chance to pay some of the finance off, so I’m left with a huge debt at the end of it, which I’ve got to cover.

“You just think, how am I supposed to find that sort of money? Things are already tough as it is, with the inflation and stuff. My kids go to nursery full-time, I’m a uni student, a student nurse and we don’t get paid for the hours we do, I’m living off student finance and there’s no help. I’m not allowed any compensation because I don’t know who it is.”

The situation has also affected Holly’s children, as she said her three-year-old was “really proud of her mummy” as Holly was able to purchase the car to take her to nursery and herself to university.

“I don’t want her to see that other side of life,” Holly said. “I should be able to sit at home and say I can keep my kids safe and protected. On Sunday night, which was obviously the first night after the fire, she [Holly’s daughter] was saying, are the bad guys going to come?”

She added: “It’s not just my car that’s been set on fire, but it’s all the knock on effects that it has after.”

Holly says that although she’s only been driving for just over a month, she is used to taking public transport, but the incident has meant she doesn’t feel up for attending university. She said: “Right now, my anxiety and my mental health is obviously just, with what I’m having to deal with financially, knowing what I’m dealing with emotionally, I don’t feel like I want to leave the house.”

Lancashire Constabulary have confirmed to LancsLive that the incident has been reported and is now under investigation.

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