A WINDOW cleaner had a lucky escape after a runaway £25,000 car rolled 60 feet down a hill in Horwich and smashed into the front of the house where he was working.

No one was injured during the incident in Ainsworth Avenue on Friday afternoon, but the window cleaner had to jump clear as the Audi TT hurtled towards him.

The car had been parked outside a house across the road in New Chapel Lane when, it is believed, the brakes failed.

The car rolled backwards 60 feet down the steep road, across Ainsworth Avenue and ploughed through fencing and bushes in the garden. It came to rest against the house's front room wall.

Witnesses said the man was cleaning windows in the front porch of the house as the car came towards him.

Next-door neighbour Tyler Stevenson, aged 25, said it was a miracle no-one was hurt. He was at the back of his house at the time when he heard a thud.

"We felt a huge jolt, then quite a large bang," he said. "We thought the window cleaner had fallen of his ladder. The car had its handbrake on at the time and we reckon it must have rolled around 60 feet.

"The window cleaner was very lucky not to be hurt as he saw it at the last second. It was also fortunate that no cars were coming or the Audi could have hit them."

Police were called to the scene at 2.35pm yesterday after a call from the house owners, who did not want to be identified.

The car and house were not badly damaged and a tow truck was called to lift the car free. The driver, who was visiting a relative at the time, also did not want to comment.