AN experienced safe cracker has met his match with a lock bearing the name of the famous Bolton firm Chatwoods.

Dimcho Lazarov has been given the task of opening an old bank safe which has come into the possession of the Museum of Plovdiv in Bulgaria.

But despite contacting experts all over the world for help in opening it, the reputable safe technician has been forced to admit: "Chatwood locks seem to be some of the best in the world."

And now the 36-year-old is hoping someone from Bolton might help him crack the old bank safe without destroying it.

Speaking from his home in Plovdiv, Bulgaria, Mr Lazarov said: "I did promise the director of the museum to open the safe without any drilling or cutting.

"But it seems Chatwood locks are among the best in the world and Chatwood was the 'father of all safes'. It is not possible to open without drilling."

It is thought the old bank safe may contain valuable historical documents. And Mr Lazarov has managed to drill into one of the locks successfully.

"No-one knows how long the safe has been locked. My point is to open the safe with minimum damage to the body, locks and items inside," said Mr Lazarov, who has been a safe technician for more than ten years.

"The problem is there is very little information regarding this brand name of locks in Bulgaria."

The safe lock features the inscription "Chatwood's, London" and "Works Bolton".

Chatwood locks date back to the 19th century and are named after Samuel Chatwood.

He was born in 1833 in East Lancashire. By the age of 23, he was dealing in safes and ironmongery.

Mr Chatwood, who lived at Wentworth Place, Bolton - a large Georgian style house in an exclusive suburb of the town - went on to become the father of modern day safes.

He built what became regarded as the "Rolls Royce" of safes all over the world.

The father- of- five set up a foundry at Bark Street and also leased the Vulcan Foundry in Foundry Street.

It was Chatwood who patented the name "Invincible". He offered buyers of his safes four hours to try and crack them with gunpowder and tools used by burglars and awarded them £500 if they managed to do so.

And as is now being demonstrated by Mr Lazarov, they are still hard to crack.

The safe he is trying to open features a double lock, a single lock, and a handle.

Mr Lazarov said the worldwide interest the safe had generated through his research means it is being kept under lock and key at the museum.

"Now, every time I want to get to the safe, I have to make a phone call to one person from the museum and have to work in front of him," he said.

"The director of the museum is planning to call television and newspaper reporters when the safe is open," he said.

Chatwood went bankrupt after entering the tin crushing business in Cornwall.

He left Bolton in the 1920s and moved to Shrewsbury.

Examples of his work can be seen around Bolton - at Smithills Hall and at a bank in Deansgate - as well as internationally, such as the vault doors inside the Imperial Ottoman Bank museum in Istanbul.

Anyone with information about the safe can email Dimcho at dimolazarov@yahoo.com