A JAMAICAN street food van has been gutted after flames spread from a barbecue to its roof.

The Bready Delights van in Selborne Road in Hove caught fire at 3.30pm on Tuesday.

Firefighters were called to tackle the blaze which devastated all the kitchen equipment inside.

Van owner Kevin Sappleton, 42, started the business two years ago and was a regular fixture at events across Sussex.

But now the father of seven says he will have to cancel attending events and has lost his livelihood.

He said: “I feel bad, I’m not msyelf after the fire. It’s everything I am right there, it’s my life.

“I pay my bills and feed my family from it.

“Now I’m a fish out of water gasping for breath. I’m in shock.

“All the money inside was burned as well so I’ve got no capital to turn over right now, I have to start from scratch and I’m not sure what I am going to do to get myself up and running.”

Video producers from nearby Kitebox recorded the fire as witnesses looked on. A fire crew used a hose reel jet to douse the flames and broke through the roof in order to completely put out the fire.

Kitebox chief executive Dr Felix Grant said he was “distraught” about the blaze

He said: “It went up so quickly. Kevin is a hardworking pillar of the community and this memory will be difficult to extinguish.”

Mr Sappleton, who has lived in the UK for more than 20 years, said he had left the van with a colleague to go into town but when he returned he found the fire brigade and police in the street.

It was his only food van and he is now left without premises to cook his popular Jamaican cuisine.

He said his regular customers have started to help out.

Mr Sappleton added: “I’m asking people if there is anything they can do to help.

“I need a premises to get back up and running and to pay the money I need to pay.

“It was really horrible, when I saw the van afterwards, I saw that everything had crumbled right there.

“Everything I had was burned up in that van.”

To find out how you can help Mr Sappleton, visit: www.gofundme.com/bready-delights-rebuild-business or search for Bready Delights on Facebook or @BreadyDelights on Twitter.