Cladding collapse at Great Bridge car showroom

Thousands of pounds worth of damage was caused when cladding fell off the outside of a Great Bridge car showroom and crashed onto the cars beneath.

The cladding fell from the Car Clearance showroom at around 3am this morning, waking up people in the surrounding properties.

Car Clearance had only taken over the former Brindley's garage two weeks ago, and had the cladding painted with their name and logo.

The cladding which had fallen off half of the building, toppled onto six cars which were on display at the front of the building.

Grant Bell, a scaffolder of nearby Devey Drive, heard a bang while in bed last night but did not realise what it was until passing the scene this morning.

The 42-year-old father-of-two said: "We were in bed and we heard a crashing noise. We didn't rise to it because it was a bit muffled. It was only seeing the cladding this morning that made it obvious what we'd heard.

"It must have been bad because I saw it this morning and it has dropped on a load of cars, and some of them look high value too.

"The cladding has only recently been re-done by the company too so it's very bad luck."

Another neighbouring resident said: "It is a bit of a blow for the company, they only took it on two weeks ago. We just have to be thankful no one was walking underneath at the time."

Mother of one Majinder Kaur, who lives on neighbouring Bramah Drive said: "I didn't hear anything last night, but it was a bit of a shock when I saw it this morning.

"I just wondered what happened. I am just glad no-one was hurt and that it happened in the middle of the night."