A CAR which ploughed into a house has put a man's livelihood in jeopardy.
Steve Richardson was not amused when he switched on his mobile on his way to work only to be told there was a car embedded in the side of his business premises.
When he arrived at his car repair shop SPR Autos on Waterside, Macclesfield, the red Ford Escort was still there - with half the building on top of it.
Police had been called at 5am with reports of an explosion, only to find the source of the noise was a car careering off the road and ploughing into the side of the building.
A man wearing a black jacket was seen by witnesses staggering out of the demolished property and heading off up Heapy Street towards St Peter's Social Club.
A police dog was called out but found nothing.
Ambulance and fire were called to the scene but there were no casualties and the car could not be removed amid fears that it might cause the building to collapse totally.
Steve, who lives in Sale, said: "I'm in total dismay. It looks as though at least two walls will have to be taken down.
"Judging by the state of the car and how far it was stuck into the building it was driven into it with quite a lot of force.
"It makes me very cross because it's taken me six years to build this business up," he went on.
"Now I've got no electricity, I'm not sure how safe the building is, and I'm booked up with work until the end of October. My livelihood is at stake.
"Six years' worth of history and information has gone up the shute because it was all on computer and that went all over the road," he added.
"I've got disks but no electricity and no equipment to run them on.
"The car was right on top of the electricity supply so I'm surprised more damage wasn't done," he added.
A 26-year-old local man was arrested and interviewed in connection with the incident but was later released without charge.
The road had to be shut, the area was fenced off and danger signs put out while the building was secured.
The car was removed at 2.30pm.
