A minibus firm is celebrating after selling 17 vehicles in one day in a deal worth almost £500,000.

David Fishwick Van and Minibus Sales, Byron Road, Colne, is one of Europe's leading suppliers of such vehicles, and sells more than 1,000 per year.

Most of the business is carried out with councils, schools, and groups including youth clubs.

But even founder David Fishwick himself was surprised when the firm sold 17 17-seat buses in one go.

The deal, worth about £400,000, was with a southern housing firm called Timberland Homes, who plan to use the vehicles to move around teams of builders from one development to another.

Mark Barlow, franchise manager at David Fishwick, secured the contract which was completed last month and the firm had 30 days to deliver the vehicles.

David Fishwick, owner of the firm, said: "It's unusual for one firm to buy 17 vehicles.

"It's a bit of a one-off. The orders usually are for two, three, four or five.

"They said they wanted 17 in 30 days and wrote a cheque for them!

"When I started out, I wanted to become a supermarket for the van and minibus world.

"Supermarkets have exactly what you want and lots of them.

"I wanted to create something like that."