Firefighters have warned shopkeepers of the dangers of letting rubbish pile up outside their premises after they had to put out scores of cardboard boxes which had been set alight.

A crew from Worthing was called to deal with the blaze at the back of a shop in Goring Road, Worthing.

The firefighters found three metal trolleys full of cardboard well alight and are treating the fire as arson.

A spokesman for Worthing Fire Station said: "The potential for something more serious was there because of the containers the rubbish was stored in.

"They were open containers and, because they were on wheels, they could have been moved nearer the building. We did give the message that the shop should be disposing of its rubbish or getting it collected more often."