A TOUR company boss was left "feeling sick" after arriving for work at her family-run Gravesend employers to find the business had been set alight.

Manns Tours manager Michelle Lucas arrived at the ground floor business in Stone Street shortly after 9am on May 8 to find the ground floor blackened.

Two teams of firefighters and police officers were called at 7.45am to the three-storey building where the ground floor office was burning.

Miss Lucas told News Shopper: "It's sickening.

"We are trying to run a business and for somebody to do this they have got to be mental or something. It's wrong.

"We just need to let our customers know this has happened and just try our best to sort the problems out."

The family business has been operating from its Stone Street office for three years, while the Manns Travel branch in Norfolk Road has been going for 17.

Manns Tours runs day trips and a coach party to Waterperry Gardens in Oxford went ahead the day of the fire.

Breathing apparatus and a hose reel jet were used by firefighters to extinguish the flames at the coach tour company’s office, which is adjacent to The Woodville.

A positive pressure ventilation fan was later used to clear smoke and fumes from the building and fire crews left the scene at 9.25am.

Kent Police is investigating an alleged arson after a fire was reported to have started overnight.

Manns Tours enourages all customers who have booked trips to ring the company on 01474 358658 and quote their reference numbers to make sure outings still go ahead.

Witnesses or anyone with any information are urged to contact DC Martin Carter by calling 101 and quoting crime reference XY/014088/13