Couple put their car in for an MOT - then the garage went up in flames

A couple who put their car in for an MOT have discovered it was incinerated when the garage was destroyed by a huge fire.

Nurse Lakini Bolton had dropped off the black Ford Focus - nicknamed Vadar after the Star Wars character - at the garage in Uddingston on Monday, just hours before the building went up in flames.

After an anxious wait to learn its fate, the garage owner has told Lakini and her partner the car was still up on a ramp inside the building.

"It's gone," said Lakini. "He told me the good news is it will be paid for by his insurance - but the bad news is he doesn't know how long it will take."

The garage was completely gutted by the blaze but firefighters worked through the night to stop it spreading to an adjacent petrol station and nearby supermarket.

One person was treated at the scene for the effects of breathing in smoke but there were no other casualties.

Lakini told how she was being given a lift by a friend to the railway station to pick up partner Jerry Chalupnik after work when she saw the building was on fire.

By the time the couple from Bothwell had finished shopping the blaze had really taken hold.

"It was like ten times bigger than it had been originally. It was huge with thick black some - the thing you see when a lot of rubber tyres burn," said Jerry.

Vadar belonged to Star Wars fan Jerry but Lakini relied on it for driving to shifts at the Glasgow hospital where she works.

"My mum's on holiday so I'm able to borrow her car just now but she's back on Thursday and I haven't yet got a plan," she said.

The car also had sentimental value. Lakimi used it when she passed her driving test four years ago.

She said: "There are a lot of memories attached to that car."

Others affected by the fire include mechanic and MOT tester David Mills, who lost his entire collection of tools.

Friends have set up a crowdfunder to help for the father-of-three, who had spent years building up his collection of expensive equipment.

Police have said they do not believe the fire was started deliberately and an investigation is under way into the cause.