A ENTREPRENEUR has been left reeling after his two-week old business was devastated by vandals.

John Hughes, aged 35, fears his three-wheel van imported from Italy may have to be written-off.

Vandals smashed the dashboard, pulled out wires, wrecked the steering column and the gear.

Mr Hughes, from Breightmet, used the £4,000 van to plug his cleaning business Rugbug.

He promoted the door-to-door service by using the rare Piaggio va, from Italy, and was rapidly becoming an eye-catching feature around the town.

He said: "A lot of people would see it around the town and they told me it brightened up their day.

"When we arrived at someone's house to do a job, it would bring a smile to the customers' faces and the children loved it.

"We were just getting going and things were really picking up.

"But someone has ruined all that.

"The business will carry on but the van was a real selling point. There was nothing in the van to steal, but they even moved it from under the CCTV cameras so they could not be seen.

"They knew what they were doing."

Mr Hughes believes that attack happened sometime over the weekend and the police have been informed. He is urging anyone with information to contact police.