STATION House in Johnstone was burned to the ground after being set alight by arsonists.

The vacant house at Barochan Road had recently been put up for sale however it has been completely destroyed in the blaze.

It was targeted on Sunday, July 10 at 10.20pm and firefighters did not leave the scene until 8am the following day.

The repossessed property had recently been put back on the market by Asset Management Group.

Thugs managed to prise the boarding off the windows and break into the house.

They then proceeded to drench the building in what is thought to be petrol before setting it alight.

Inspector Cassie Glass said: "Station House at Barochan Road was set on fire on Sunday night after recently being put back on the market.

"The house was boarded up however someone managed to pull it off and enter the house.

"They poured a flammable liquid in the building and set it on fire, completely destroying the house.

"Luckily nobody was inside but if someone had been in the property sleeping rough then this could have been much worse.

"We are appealing for witnesses to come forward and the CID are currently dealing with this - please contact 101 if you have any more information."

Station House previously serviced the Linwood and Houston areas as an information and ticket office.

It is situated next to a former railway that used to see trains pass from Linwood to Bridge of Weir, which is now used as a cycle track.

A spokesman from The Scottish Fire Service added: "We received a 999 call shortly before 10.20pm last night reporting smoke in the area of Barochan Road.

"We immediately sent crews from Johnstone fire station.

"Fire fighters arrived within four minutes to find a fire within an unoccupied two storey building.

"A team of four fire fighters wearing breathing apparatus used two high pressured jets to make an initial assault on the fire.

"Efforts to tackle the flames included two further high pressured jets from outside the building and fire fighters used a ladder to access the roof.

"After extinguishing the flames firefighters looked for signs of hidden fire spread using a thermal imaging camera before leaving the scene around 8am."