BRAZEN thieves have left staff at a building suppliers baffled after stealing a full-sized five tonne garage.

The 16ft by 9ft garage with a white up-and-over door was one in a row of five outside G F Sectional Buildings on the Riverside Industrial Estate in Rishton, the site of the former Rishton Paper Mill.

The pebble-dashed show garage was there when staff locked up at 5.30pm on Monday, but when they turned up for work on Tuesday morning, all that was left was an empty space.

"I couldn't believe it," said company boss Jeremy Goode. "I honestly couldn't believe that someone would have the courage to come down with a wagon, bearing in mind this thing would weigh around five tonnes, dismantle it, and load it up.

"It was a tidy job, every nut and bolt was undone. They would have needed a seven and a half tonne wagon to take it."

The garage, worth around £1,500 , was made from pre-fabricated concrete panelling with pebble-dash, steel roof trusses with cement fibre roof sheeting and had a white plastic door.

Mr Goode estimated it would have taken three hours to dismantle the building, during which time the vehicle being used to remove it would have been clearly visible on the industrial estate.

He said: "I really couldn't understand why they had taken that particular one.

"It wasn't the best one in the yard and it's as if someone had a customer for it."

Anyone with any information about the garage should contact Great Harwood Police on 01254 353341.