THE owner of a bus company says he had a near miss when fire broke out near where his vehicles are kept.

Neil Bird, boss of Southern Transit Bus Company, was woken by a phone call in the early hours of Sunday saying there was something on fire at the Upper Beeding Cement Works.

The blaze destroyed 19 Ace Travel buses but Mr Bird’s vehicles were moved in time before the fire could damage them

But he said he was terrified by the 2am call from security staff.

He said: “When I took the phone call, I was trying to work out what was going on.

“I live down the road from the site, so I went straight down there.

“I was shocked through because a million and one things were going through my head. What and why were the main things I was thinking.”

Southern Transit has 15 vehicles on site and there are four other travel companies operating at the cement works along with six other firms.

Mr Bird says his company has not been affected by the fire.

“It’s business as usual for us,” he said.

“We are still operating as normal and have not been affected by the fire.

“I can’t imagine what that must be like.

“They [Ace Travel] probably can’t go on.”

An investigation was launched on Sunday and West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service is working with the police to discover the cause. Arson remains a possibility.

Mr Bird’s Southern Transit, which was established in 2003, is an unsubsidised company, meaning it solely operates on ticket sales from the buses.

He says that despite a huge struggle to get custom, the business is growing.

He said: “It is so hard competing against companies which have been contracted by the council but we are moving forward year on year.

“We have just bought two more coaches and we are buying two brand new buses, so we are doing OK.

“But we can never really say how we are going to be doing –it’s so hard to predict.”

The company loans buses and coaches for events and began operating at weekends.

Southern Transit now offers its services every Thursday and Saturday.

Anyone with information about the fire should call Sussex Police on 101 quoting serial 198 of 24/09 or report anonymously to Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.

The Argus reported on Monday that Southern Transit owned the 19 destroyed buses, but can confirm none of the company’s were affected. We apologise for any confusion.