Milkmen vowed to continue delivering people's daily pints despite a blaze wrecking their Worthing depot.

Police have launched an investigation following the fire at a Unigate dairy, which destroyed 15 milk floats and left the depot badly damaged.

Up to 40 firefighters fought the inferno at the depot off Sompting Road in Broadwater, Worthing, on Saturday night. Arson has not been ruled out.

Yesterday, dairy bosses inspected the wreckage and predicted the repair and vehicle replacement bill would top £250,000.

The 15 floats, each costing about £20,000, went up in flames one by one as they were lined up in the depot. Twelve others escaped damage.

Flames shot 15ft into the sky as firefighters battled the intense blaze for more than an hour. Columns of thick black smoke hung above the dairy and surrounding area.

No one was working in the building when the blaze broke out and nearby residents were not evacuated from their homes.

Unigate, whose dairy and cheese business was sold to Dairy Crest in July 2000, promised that this morning's deliveries would not be affected.

The firm vowed to draft in floats from other Unigate depots to honour orders for its 500 customers in the Worthing area.

Depot manager Ken Kingdon said: "It looks a mess around here.

"There is an awful lot of damage mainly to the part where the floats were kept.

"But we are confident that none of the deliveries in the area will be affected. It will be business as usual I'm sure."

Police and fire investigation officers were today sifting through the charred remains to establish a cause.

A brigade spokesman said: "The building was well alight when two pumps from Worthing arrived following a call from a member of the public.

"With the seriousness of the fire, a further four pumps were brought in to help out. It was then put out quite quickly.

"It would be too early to say what the cause was at this stage."