A McDonald’s franchisee has called out “social media one-upmanship” after the latest fire at his Dundee city centre restaurant.
Nick McPartland says youths need to stop starting deliberate fires “before someone gets hurt”.
His Reform Street outlet had to be evacuated on Sunday morning after it was targeted for the second time in a matter of days.
Two fire crews made their way to the restaurant just before 9am following reports of a fire in the female toilet.
Staff swiftly extinguished the blaze after customers were evacuated from the restaurant.
A customer at the scene said staff spotted smoke coming from the bathroom and swiftly raised the alarm.
He said: “I’d just walked into McDonald’s when staff were telling everyone to evacuate.
“Apparently there was a small fire in one of the upstairs bathrooms.
“Firefighters arrived at the scene soon after and quickly dealt with it.”
There was no damage and the restaurant reopened a short time later.
Franchisee slams ‘youths starting fires for social media clicks’
Franchisee Nick McPartland says the blaze was dealt with by a member of staff before firefighters arrived.
It comes days after youths were spotted running from the Reform Street restaurant after a pile of rubbish was set on fire.
Mr McPartland said the latest fire was started by two female youths who set toilet paper alight.
He said: “Youths keep putting people in danger for social media attention.
“These Facebook pages need to be shut down as they just encourage one-upmanship.
“We’ve dealt with two fires in the last week.
“It needs to stop before someone gets hurt.
“Given the location of the building, the whole street could go up if it gets out of control.
“Thankfully there is no damage and everyone is okay, but we had to close the restaurant while the smoke cleared.
“Police are currently reviewing CCTV footage and we expect to reopen later this morning.”
A spokesperson for the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service said: “We were called to Reform Street in Dundee at 8.45 am on Sunday.
“Two appliances from Blackness Road were sent to the scene.
“The fire was quickly extinguished in the female bathroom of the restaurant.”
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “Around 9am on Sunday we received a report of a small fire within the toilets at a premises on Reform Street, Dundee.
“Inquiries are ongoing.”
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