Business gutted in mystery fire

9:08am Tuesday 7th August 2001

Business partners Malcolm Collier and Peter Sebunka are seeking new premises after £500,000 worth of equipment was destroyed when their Wire-O-Works factory in Selsdon Road burnt down writes Angeline Albert.

Fire fighters battled to bring the fire under control late on Saturday, August 28, but Mr Collier did not discover what had happened until the next day.

He said: “What can you say about a thing like this? I could use all the adjectives I like but at the end of the day it's a total disaster.

“The equipment inside is so charred the forensic specialists are finding it hard to discover what the cause is.”

Mr Collier, Mr Sebunka and Janet Sebunka began their business, a print-finishing company wiro-binding products such as calendars to retailers across the South, two and a half years ago.

Their twelve members of staff are on paid leave and the partners are currently working from the sitting room of staff member Maureen Rigby's home.

He said: “I am losing something in the region of £10,000 a month.”

The premises are fully insured and Mr Collier is confident about the future. He added: “I know we can build it up again. We have over 300 customers. Every year we've increased our profits by about 50 per cent. We have good relations with our suppliers so we can get the equipment quickly, the problem is finding the right premises. We'd be running in a fortnight if we had that. There's lots of premises available with 25,000sq ft but we only need a building with 3-5,000sq ft.”

Ring 020 8407 4707.

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