POLICE are investigating an arson attack which caused £36,000 of damage to vehicles on a garage forecourt on Tuesday morning.

A security guard on his way to work at 3.40am spotted the blaze at the front of the MG Rover garage on Manchester Road, Bolton, and alerted the emergency services.

Arsonists had broken into an 18-month-old MG ZR car parked in a line of 20 vehicles for sale by smashing the window and setting the car alight.

The blaze spread to two adjacent MG ZR cars. Vandals had also broken into another nearby vehicle, but it was not damaged by fire.

No-one would comment at the garage.

Firemen from Bolton Central fire station managed to stop the fire spreading and, luckily the vehicles were not near any building.

"It could have been much worse," said sub-officer Shaun Walton. The blaze was the second arson attack in the area during the night.

Earlier, at midnight, vandals smashed the window of a Vauxhall Frontera parked in nearby Weston Street and set it alight. The vehicle was destroyed.