A GARAGE owner says he has been forced to shut up shop after being raided by crooks for the second time.

Carl’s Car & Commercial, in Oswaldtwistle, was targeted by thieves overnight on Sunday.

Boss Carl Trezise said thugs had got into the garage through a bathroom window before stealing tools, estimated to have a value of more than £30,000.

He said the break-in has left him unable to carry on running the garage as he has no tools to carry out car repairs.

Mr Trezise said: “We discovered the burglary had happened on Sunday afternoon.

“The thieves got in through the back of the building by ripping off the window frame of the bathroom and getting in through there.

“They’ve then smashed my toolbox and taking all the tools in there.

“I’d estimate they have a value of roughly £30,000 to £35,000.”

Tools taken from the Heys Lane garage include spanners, torches, snap on impact guns, ratchets and a battery charger.

It is the second time the garage has been broken into after thieves also stole high-power tools worth £10,000 on New Year’s Eve last year.

Mr Trezise, who opened the garage about a year ago, said: “I’ve had to spend money on replacing all those tools only for them to be stolen again.

“I now have no money to replace the tools and Christmas is round the corner.

“So I’ve been left with no choice but to close the garage.

“To open up again, it depends on whether I can get the money for new tools.”

Mr Trezise branded the perpetrators as the ‘scum of the earth’,

He added: “I can’t carry on working.

“They’ve put me out of business.

“We’re hardworking people and I work six days a week 12 hours a day and don’t claim benefits and provide for my family.

“So these people really are the scum of the earth.”

A police spokesman said: “This was reported to us on November 9 (Sunday) at 3.50pm.

“The person who reported it had gone into the garage and found it had been ransacked with tools and keys stolen.

“The perpetrators had forced the locks off the doors of the garage.

“The incident is being investigated.”

Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 101 quoting reference number 0945 of November 9.