Arsonists targeted eight cars in a little more than 48 hours – including a burned out Peugeot 406 in St Philips.

The car was set alight in Unity Street at about 4.15am on Sunday, gutting the front part of the vehicle and shattering glass in the doors.

The blaze was so fierce it spread to a Toyota Corolla, leaving it burned out too.

The weekend's spate of car fires started at 11.40pm on Friday.

Crews were called to Hunts Ground Road in Stoke Gifford, where a mechanical digger was set alight.

Six vehicles were then torched in just eight hours between Saturday night and the early hours of Sunday.

At 8.40pm on Sunday, a quad bike was targeted in Fisher Road in Kingswood.

Fire crews used buckets of water to put out the blaze, and used beaters to stop the flames spreading.

Just after 3am on Sunday firefighters were called to Coronation Road in Kingswood, where a Range Rover had been set alight.

Minutes later, officers rushed to Long Cross in Shirehampton, where a Ford Fiesta had been torched.

A Renault Megane was set alight at 3.15am in Napier Square in Avonmouth, and an hour later crews were called to the burning Peugeot in St Philips.

At 4.50am arsonists torched a motorcycle in Alexandra Road in Clifton. Firefighters used a high-pressure hose to douse the blaze, which spread to a rubbish bin and a Toyota Yaris.

And at 1.15am yesterday morning crews were called to Foxden Road in Stoke Gifford, where an unidentified vehicle had been burned out.

Avon Fire and Rescue spokeswoman Louise Hart said that traditionally the number of vehicle fires increased as the weather got warmer.

But the number of deliberately started vehicle fires between April 2008 and the end of February this year was 517 – a drop of 32 per cent for the same period of the previous year.

Miss Hart said: "We are seeing an overall trend that the number of vehicle fires are decreasing, but when the weather starts to get better we do see more vehicle fires."

Footage of a blazing van that was stolen and dumped in Shirehampton was captured on a mobile phone by Post reader Rob Watkins, from Weston-super-Mare.

Mr Watkins was in a shop on Penpole Lane when smoke came past the window.

Mr Watkins, 43, said: "I went outside and this large van was on fire.

"I phoned the fire brigade and they were there within two or three minutes. A few cars stopped and someone rang the number on the side of the van.

"The guy who answered was in the Masons Arms pub and didn't even know it had been stolen.