A MOTORIST claims he had to flee from a car wash when one of its rollers smashed through the glass in his rear window.

Paul Miller said he dived for cover when the brush struck his vehicle so hard it shattered the glass, leaving him with a £300 bill.

The incident happened as the 32-year-old used the car wash at the Total petrol station, on Bury Road, Breightmet.

The company said the incident was very rare and has promised to investigate.

Mr Miller said he went to clean his recently bought £6,000 Mitsubishi Carisma at the garage and paid £3.50 for the top programme.

Window

He said problems started soon after he drove into the car wash.

"I heard a big crack and realised I would be better to drive out of the car wash.

"It was only then that I noticed the window had been smashed and there was glass all over the back seat."

He added: "My girlfriend usually sits in the back with her children, so it could have been a much more serious incident."

He added: "I thought they should have closed it so no other vehicles would be damaged, or people hurt."

A spokesman for Total said the company apologised for what had happened.

She added: "It is very rare for something like this to happen if the instructions have been followed.

"We are sending an engineer out to look at the car wash."

The spokesman said that the member of staff was limited in what he could do at the time of the incident, because he was the only person on duty and could not leave the garage.