Thousands of pounds of damage was caused to a shopping centre after arsonists struck for the seventh time in two months.

Plumes of smoke from The Quintins shopping centre, Hailsham, could be seen as far as Polegate, two miles away.

Two crews from Hailsham and Herstmonceux retained fire stations attended the scene.

The fire was started in a skip at the rear of the building and quickly spread to the back of the centre.

Deputy centre manager Steve Williams said the damage to the centre could amount to more than £5,000.

He said: "We have no plans to put CCTV there what we need is the police to mount an observation to catch the people who are doing this. Everybody is getting a bit sick of it."

Mr Williams said although police had been called every time they had only attended twice out of the seven incidents.

Station officer Paul Sundaram-Hardwicke (crrct), from the Eastbourne fire station, noticed the smoke as he drove through Polegate at 4.55am Sunday morning on his way to the scene.

He said: "The fire also involved some metal pallets full of plastic and cardboard so the smoke was very thick. If the rubbish had been stacked against the building I think we would have been looking at a whole new shopping centre.

"I have noticed as I drive around there are quite a few commercial business which leave rubbish outside. We would ask them to store rubbish away from their properties and secure them shut."

Fire crews remained onscene for more than hour.

The blaze is being treated as suspicious and anyone who has information about it is asked to contact Hailsham police on 0845 6070999.