Aberdeen florist still closed after fire that destroyed £20,000 of flowers

An Aberdeen florist is still unable to reopen months after a fire devastated its warehouse — but staff remain hopeful the doors will open again.

J Van Vliet, in Ardarroch Road, was one of several businesses caught in a major blaze that broke out at a nearby garage in January.

For the past three months the wholesaler has had to relocate its operations to its Scottish headquarters in Perth, with it facing losses of around £5,000 each week.

General manager Paul McBain has said the clear-up operation is finally under way but there’s still no indication as to when the building will be ready to reopen.

J Van Vliet staff ‘in limbo’

More than £80,000 of stock, including £20,000 of flowers, were destroyed.

At the moment the six employees, including Paul, are having to drive to Perth leaving Aberdeen at 3.30am to collect stock and then drive back to make deliveries.

Staff are now delivering flowers to around 50 florists across the north-east only four days a week, instead of the original six days.

Paul said: “We’re still working from Perth to get the deliveries done but it’s very tiring. It’s taking so long to get anything done with insurance companies.

“It’s taken a lot of organisation and there’s a certain element that feels like we are letting florists down with not delivering six days.

“But we are doing the best we can. We’re kind of in limbo waiting to get back into the original building, which could be months.

“There’s still no indication really as to when that’ll be.”

Work started on building

A contractor has been appointed by the insurance company and a clean-up operation has started.

Paul said: “It’s finally good to see things moving.

“A contractor has appointed by the insurance company and they’ve started doing some of the cleaning up.

“But I’m not sure what stage they are at with making the roof safe.

“We are all really hoping to get open again in Aberdeen.”

Cause of fire

The fire broke out within the building of Stag Motors and Pittodrie Car Stadium in January.

Police evacuated scores of nearby homes amid fears the fire could spread or residents might be affected by smoke.

The new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service investigation report said the main cause of the fire was a fault in a diesel heater and it began accidentally.

The blaze began in the shop room/showroom/display hall, the report said.

It added that the items that ignited first were structural fixtures and fittings and that petrol and oil products spread the fire “rapidly”.