Watch as Sunderland Citizens Advice office completely destroyed by blaze during last night's riot
Thousands of Sunderland’s most vulnerable residents face weeks without the support they need after rioters are reported to have set alight the city’s Citizens Advice office.
National reports suggested the city’s police office had been targeted and set alight by rioters during last night’s disorder.
Whilst the photographs sent to the Echo showed a shattered glass window and some evidence of smoke damage to the police office, it is the adjoining Citizens Advice office which has been completely gutted by fire.
Sunderland Citizens Advice chief officer Denise Irving was in the city centre this morning (August 3) to see first-hand the extent of the damage.
She said: “Our unit is now completely burnt out, unfortunately. I initially got a call from one of the team to say the window had been put out by the rioters and then a follow-up call to say they had set it on fire.
“I live in Durham and so I informed the police but I was told to stay put. Unfortunately we just had to watch it burning, like everyone else, on Facebook.
“We are absolutely devastated about what has happened. It has thrown us so far back that we don’t know what we are going to do.”
The advice office provides emergency support to people suffering from issues such as debt crisis, fuel poverty and lack of essentials such as food.
Denise added: “It’s our money advice unit where we would offer crisis advice on a daily basis as well as providing food support, and we now just don’t know where we are going to be on Monday and whether we will be able to operate.
“We generally get around 30 people per day coming in and asking for help and around 100 calls in need of crisis support.
“On Monday I am going to be stood on the pavement trying to manage the situation.
“I don’t know what these people’s motivation was in terms of targeting our unit but all we are concerned about now is how we are going to meet the needs of the community.”