A security guard was drafted in to keep watch overnight outside a motorcycle shop which was ram-raided by a 46-seater coach.

He was called in after the insurers of Whitehall Motorcycle and Car Centre Ltd at Drighlington were unable to get a builder to repair the damage until today.

The building was attacked at 2am yesterday by two people who rammed the stolen coach through the front metal-shutter doors and stole a moto-cross bike.

Company director Gareth Humphries said: "We didn't know how to secure the building so we called in a security guard. We have cleared all the rubble but it took us a good few hours."

He said he hoped the entire building had not been damaged, but because the front walls had moved during the raid they would have to be rebuilt.

Despite its severity, the incident has not put Mr Humphries off the area. "Crime happens everywhere - if it's going to happen, it's going to happen," he said.

He estimated that around £20,000-worth of damage had been caused on top of the stolen bike - worth £1,300 and nine damaged bikes.

"I think the people who did it had probably been up to the shop when we were open, saw the bike and said 'We'll have that!'

They must have no brains to go to those extremes to steal something like a coach."

As reported in later editions of yesterday's Telegraph and Argus, the whole showroom had been disrupted because it was no longer safe for people to be walking around.

"Thankfully none of the bikes with deposits on them were damaged and the bike that was stolen had not been bought either," he said.

"We couldn't have done any more to make the building secure," he said.

"We had anti-ram posts in place and two metal shutters. The anti-ram bar is built to withstand a car but not a coach!"