THE owners of an MOT garage and car dealership have been left reeling after a car ploughed through their businesses causing tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage.

At around 2.30am on Tuesday, witnesses described seeing a Volswagen Golf BlueMotion speeding down Lee Lane in Horwich.

It reportedly hit a lamp post next to Old Station Park before careening into the car park of Toms Affordable Cars and smashing into the MOT bay at Gorton Fold MOT and Autocare.

Three cars at the car dealership were completely written off leaving the owners and prospective customers devastated.

One of the owners Ste Haycock said: "We've had to refund deposits. It's a disaster really.

"There was £5,000 worth of cars that we've had to write off - a Volkswagen Polo, a Peugeot 207 and a 207 Sport.

"One girl was absolutely devastated. She had passed her automatic driving test and had been looking all over for a car.

"She eventually found an automatic Volswagen Polo that she really liked and she had come all the way from Liverpool to put a deposit down on it.

"Then when this happened we had to ring her and tell her it had been destroyed."

Although the cars at the dealership slowed the car down, it still managed to crash through the side of Gorton Fold MOT and Autocare.

Owner Simon Maxwell said: "It's managed to come through our building and demolished our MOT bay .

"With the damage it has caused, it must have been going around 80 to 90mph.

"The MOT bay has been completely out of action but I'm hoping to get it back up and running today because it's the heart of my work. I've been having to use another garage to do the MOTs while mine has been damaged.

"I'm waiting on a builder's quote so I'd hate to hazard a guess of how much damage there is but I can see it being £10,000 to £20,000 at least."

Mr Maxwell claimed he is unhappy with how the police acted in the aftermath of the incident and said he has made a complaint.

He added: "The police basically removed the car from the building without checking it was safe.

"They made no effort to contact me either, I only found out it had happened when one of the lads came to open up at 8.30am and saw the mess."

The Bolton News has approached Greater Manchester Police for comment.