It is a respected, popular family business at the heart of the community which a father and son painstakingly built up over half a century.

Eastern Daily Press: The scene of Jason Beck's Auto Repair garage after a fire destroyed the premises. Picture by: Andrew Papworth.The scene of Jason Beck's Auto Repair garage after a fire destroyed the premises. Picture by: Andrew Papworth. (Image: Archant)

Yet, in an instant, the mechanical repair and bodywork garage which has been Jason Beck's livelihood for 20 years – and his father's for around 30 years before that – was gone.

Firefighters spent more than two hours tackling a blaze in which the main repair section of the Auto Repair mechanical and bodywork garage in Long Road, Kirkley, was completely destroyed.

A Ford Ka, Volkswagon Beetle and Kawasaki motorcycle Mr Beck was working on at the time were also damaged beyond repair, along with thousands of pounds of equipment.

But despite describing the aftermath of the blaze on Sunday as 'total devastation', the 45-year-old has vowed to rebuild – and is determined to get a temporary garage set up in the next two weeks so he can carry on serving his loyal customers.

'It was total devastation,' he said, after seeing the damage caused by the fire.

'There was no good. I didn't know what to think. There was a lot of equipment in there – just about 40 years of stuff. It is far more than I could ever replace.'

Auto Repair comprises of two buildings – the main workshop and bodywork area, which was hit by the fire, and a separate storage building.

Mr Beck hopes to set up a temporary garage in the storage area, salvaging what equipment he can to carry out repairs while the main garage is fixed.