‘Like a bomb had gone off’: suspected arson attack fuels Glastonbury unease

Arrests after explosion and caravan fires heighten controversy over number of people living in vehicles

Jan Johnston was tucked up in the van she calls home when she was rocked by the explosion. “I heard this massive boom,” she said. “I came out and there was thick, black, billowing smoke. It was like a bomb had gone off.”

It turned out not to be a bomb, but a suspected arson attack on one of the many caravans, motorhomes and converted vehicles tucked away in side roads and industrial estates around the town of Glastonbury in Somerset.