THOUSANDS of pounds worth of damage was caused to parked cars when scaffolding along a row of terrace houses collapsed.

Residents in Clarence Street, Burnley, were awakened by a crashing sound at 3am yesterday morning when the scaffolding fell across the road.

Cars suffered dents and broken windows and the road was left strewn with smashed glass.

The scaffolding had been erected last week to in preparation for sandblasting work to the houses.

Paul Haworth, 35, returned from a family holiday in Mablethorpe late on Saturday night and woke hours later to find the windscreen and boot on his Rover 214 were both shattered.

He said: "I heard a sound and went running to the window.

"The scaffolding had fallen right across the street. It has definitely caused thousands of pounds worth of damage and the cars took the brunt of it. It's really frightening because it makes you think it could have fallen at any time. It's going to take a while to sort out the mess and I won't feel safe if they put more scaffolding up there now.

His wife Anne, 31, added: "The scary thing is this could have happened at any time.

"My daughter was saying it could have fallen on her coming home from college or it could have crushed kids on their way home from school." Resident Donna Coates, 31, whose house had scaffolding outside it, woke to find the sunroof on her Ford Mondeo had been smashed.

She said: "There's just broken glass everywhere. I woke up and the street was a complete mess." Workers from Burnley Council began removing the scaffolding at 5am yesterday. Burnley Council were unable to make a comment.