Tyre boss jailed for centre fire

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An Edinburgh tyre centre manager who started a huge blaze at his work because he feared he would be fired has been jailed for 28 months.

Colin McReadie drank 20 pints of lager before setting fire to tyres using a gas torch at Budget Tyre Auto Centre.

He then locked the centre and went back to the pub, leaving the fire to cause £700,000 of damage last September.

McReadie, 22, from Edinburgh, earlier pled guilty to wilful fireraising at Edinburgh Sheriff Court last month.

Sentencing him on Thursday, Sheriff Neil Mackinnon said the danger posed to the public meant McReadie had to be jailed.

"It appears in this case that you had concerns for your job security, you consumed a significant quantity of alcohol and somehow the idea of destroying the stock at your workplace by fire arose and those you regarded as friends encouraged you in this enterprise," said the sheriff.

"Due to the seriousness of this matter only a custodial disposal is appropriate."

McReadie, a soldier with the Territorial Army, had been working at the centre for three months and had been promoted to branch manager just two weeks before the incident last September.

But there had been "a number of problems" with his work, and he was asked to attend a meeting with bosses to discuss his future.

The night before the meeting, on 29 September, McCreadie called friends and asked them to pick him up from a pub at 2200 BST and drive him to the tyre centre.

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Footage of the blaze filmed by local resident Rob Schmitt

When they arrived at the tyre centre, McReadie used his key fob to deactivate the alarm and went inside.

"Once inside he made his way over to a rack of tyres within the building and used a gas torch to set those tyres on fire," said fiscal depute Aidan Higgins, prosecuting.

"He then reset the alarm to the premises and, along with his two associates, went back to the pub."

A passing dog walker called the fire brigade after hearing the fire alarm and seeing smoke coming from the roof of the building in Piershill Place.

The prosecutor said fire fighters arrived to find the tyre centre "engulfed" in flames, and the glass doors had been blown out.

Suspicion fell on McReadie after police viewed CCTV footage from the pub.

McReadie's solicitor, Rhona McLeod, said he faced being kicked out of the TA if he was jailed, and would miss out on going to Afghanistan with the troops later this year.

She said McReadie, who has children aged four and two, had been working 70 to 80 hours a week at the tyre centre and had been "stressed" by his responsibilities.

He had turned to drink and had been in the pub for nine hours before starting the fire.

"He just made a calamitous decision," she added.

Sheriff Mackinnon said he had reduced the sentence from 42 months because McReadie pled guilty at the first opportunity.