YOUNGSTERS may be the culprits behind a lift fire in a Tavistock store, writes Roger Malone.

Two appliances rushed to Somerfield on Tuesday afternoon in what was the latest in a spate of vandalism.

The alarm was raised when a customer saw smoke coming out of one the two lifts that connect the store to the car park.

Duty manager Andrew Yelland said a customer told the checkout supervisor who in turn contacted him.

?We opened the lifts and they were full of black smoke. We switched them off and rang the fire brigade. It looks like it could have been a paper fire. There was ash at the bottom and the floor was black,? he said.

Mr Yelland said despite the lift being closed between 8pm and 8am it had been a regular target for vandals ? and even the bench facing the road had been taken away.

?The fire was frustrating because the lifts were out of order for three hours.

?They were switched off and we couldn?t operate them until our own lift engineer came out to make sure they were safe. It is the only access to the car park for shoppers with trollies. It?s an act of vandalism.?

The fire service was called to a fire at Meadowlands on Monday when leaves were set alight. But it was quickly located and put out by pool staff.

Meadowlands general manager Rob Whitehead said someone had lit a pile of leaves outside the back door. The alarm was raised when smoke began coming in through the air handling system.

?We had the smell of smoke in the building and had to evacuate. All the procedures worked perfectly and the staff were fantastic,? he said.

?It was vandalism. There is no doubt of that. It could have been serious. It is the mentality of the person that is the problem not the fire in this case,? he said.

Stn officer Tony Clark said the fire service had received a number of calls to incidents that had been started by children playing with fire.

?The police have been informed and will be investigating,? he said.

We ask that parents are aware of what their children are doing because it seems somewhat strange that this coincides with the school holidays. It is a dangerous game to be playing with fire ? we can only try to get that message across.?