THE owner of a petrol station hit by fire yesterday said the damage could have been much worse.

The blaze broke out at Middleton Service Station, in Middleton, near Pickering, at about 7pm on Tuesday.

Shop staff saw the smoke and called the fire brigade, which brought in seven crews from across the county.

The fire had started in part of the building used by Moorland ATV, a business selling new and used quad bikes.

The unit was destroyed, but firefighters managed to stop the flames spreading to the service station.

Crews left the scene at midnight, but were called back early yesterday after parts of the building re-ignited.

Service station owner Brian Charlton said: "It could have been a lot worse. If nobody had been, in the building it would have been disastrous.

"The fire would have spread to the front and maybe gone on to the service part and the petrol. Fortunately, it did not get anywhere near that, but the shop is very waterlogged and there is a lot of smoke damage.

"The back part of the building is completely gone. There is just really three walls left.

"We are hoping to get back in operation within a few days -it just depends what we can salvage and what we need to re-order."

Investigators were at the scene yesterday trying to determine how the blaze started.