A CAR garage owner was left angry after “sinister” looking vandals tried to kick down the door and break into his workshop.

Peter Harrington, who runs Harrington Car Sales, in London Road, Shenley, noticed a footprint on the front of the door to the building when he arrived at work last Friday.

But when he investigated further, he realised the door had been partially broken and began to worry.

He looked back at his CCTV footage and saw a group of balaclava-clad people running riot around the cars for sale in his showroom.

The 48-year-old said: “It’s annoying as I am a family person and this is how I earn a living – then someone thinks they can try and break into our property and disturb what we’ve worked hard for.

“Anger was going through my mind and I was upset. I don’t think there were any witnesses, but they must have made an awful lot of noise.

“They were kicking the door down and fairly keen to get in. I am surprised nobody heard them, they were milling around the site for a round seven minutes.”

The gang caused around £200 of damage to the front of his door but did not steal anything and left empty handed.

Mr Harrington says that in his 18 years of running the business, alongside his sister, Sue, he has never been the victim of a crime.

The father-of-three now wants to issue the vandals with a stark warning.

He added: “No money is left on the site overnight and we don’t deal with cash here. I don’t know what they were trying to steal. I don’t think they were trying to take a car – probably money.

“They have caused me no disruption – they haven’t won. Fortunately the damage they caused was minimal which was a huge relief.

“I don’t think it’s someone local. They looked very sinister all wrapped up in masks on the video footage. If you bumped into them looking like that, you’d be worried.

“They’ve not caused me any inconvenience – just annoyance. I’ve never had anything like this before.”

He also praised the police response as “fantastic”.

He added: “I think the police have been very good. I rang them and they came within the hour, I’ve had forensics in and someone coming in to take a statement. I have been impressed.”

No arrests have been made. Anyone with information is asked to call 101.