ARSONISTS are believed to be responsible for a fire which destroyed a former roadside café alongside the A64, near Tadcaster.

North Yorkshire Fire & Rescue service said they received a number of calls at 4.15am yesterday of a fire in a derelict Little Chef restaurant and service station at Hazelwood.

Officers from Tadcaster arrived at the scene and quickly called for back-up from York and Garforth, in neighbouring West Yorkshire, once the scale of the fire became apparent.

A spokesman for the force said: “There was 100 per cent fire damage to the roof and 70 per cent fire damage to the remainder of the building. It’s pretty much destroyed. There won’t be much of it left.”

Officers were due to return to the wreckage of the 100 square metre property early yesterday evening to ensure the site was fully safe.

North Yorkshire County Councillor and nearby resident Chris Metcalfe said: “It’s been empty for about ten years now. The action the district council could well now have to take is to get the place cleared. It would have made an ideal premises, but now it looks as though something untoward has happened to it. It’s sad.”