WILSON’S Buses insist will they will not be run off the road after thugs deliberately set fire to their fleet of buses.

Robert Wilson, whose son Ross runs the firm, spoke out after seven buses were destroyed in the blaze at their depot on Baker Street around 1am on Thursday morning.

It came less than a week after a bus on the company’s new Larkfield route was attacked when vandals hurled missiles through its windows.

They also suffered an attack in Lochwinnoch the night before, when a balaclava-wearing thug used a claw hammer to smash several windows – terrifying a driver and three passengers.

Robert, who is an employee at the company, says his son is determined to get his business up and running again as quickly as possible after the blaze.

Speaking on behalf of his son, Mr Wilson said: “The whole family is devastated by this.

“It’s a double blow for us as a similar incident happened to buses at the Dellingburn Street garage back in 2011.

“It’s terrible to try and put a company out of business; I can’t find the words for it.

“But Ross doesn’t want to give up.

“He’s determined to pick up the pieces and get through this.”

As a result of the fire, the firm are currently unable to operate their services from Branchton to Greenock town centre and their Larkfield service from Burns Square to Tesco Container Way.

They are also unable to run the contract bus they provide for pupils at All Saints Primary school.

But Robert says they are doing all they can to get the routes covered for passengers.

He said: “The big concern for us is the Branchton service as we’re the only operator on that route, so we apologise to our customers.

“We are looking for another operator who can cover this route for us while we get things up and running again, so I would ask anyone who can help to get in touch.

“We supply a school contract bus for a couple of kids at All Saints so we are trying to get that covered too.

“We also apologise to our customers in Larkfield as our service will not be operating at the moment.”

Police have now confirmed that they are treating the incident as a wilful fire.

A joint investigation is now underway between Police Scotland, Scottish Fire and Rescue and the Scottish Police Authority to establish the exact cause of the fire.

Robert added: “The garage is being treated as a crime scene while they try to establish what happened.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact officers at Greenock CID on 101 or phone Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.