Inverness agency owner Julia Macleay has described her shock at watching her travel agency burn down at the weekend.
SJ Travel Centre in Fairways Business Park, was one of four units destroyed in what police say was a deliberate attack, late on Saturday night. The blaze continued well into the early hours of Sunday.
Julia told the Press and Journal she rushed to the business park after getting a phone call from her son, who was driving home, to say: “Mum, your shop is on fire.”
She described how she and other business owners ‘had to stand and watch’ as their units burnt down. She said: “SJ Travel Centre is my life, and it’s my business.”
Police said the blaze was ‘wilful’ and that a car was ‘deliberately’ driven into one of the units. Scottish Fire and Rescue said it sent six appliances to the scene, after being alerted about the fire at 11.50pm on Saturday.
Julia had been due to open another business, Spirit Journey Gifts, in one of the units today.
“Our SJ Gifts was actually ready to open to the public today. So I’ve lost two units in there,” she said.
On its Facebook page on Sunday, the company posted: “As many of you may have heard, a devastating fire broke out last night, and unfortunately, our offices have been badly affected. While our physical space is temporarily closed, we want to reassure you that we are still very much operational.
“We are truly heartbroken by what has happened, but at the end of the day, the most important thing is that no one was hurt. Buildings and belongings can be replaced – people cannot. Thank you all for your support and understanding during this time.”
Julia said she has been offered ‘various offices, as well as a unit’ as a temporary base and the company updated its Facebook page today to say staff are on the hunt for new premises ‘to get us back up and running and soon as possible’.
All calls have been diverted to sister company Spirit Journeys Worldwide and the agency told customers on Sunday: “All our systems are cloud-based, and we will be fully up and running remotely from tomorrow.
“Please do not worry – your holidays remain our top priority over the next couple of days, and we are working hard to ensure everything runs smoothly.
“Thank you for your support, kindness, and understanding – it means the world to us!”
