A COACH, thought to be stolen by joyriders, crashed into the side of a flooring company causing damage to the building in an early hours accident.

The vehicle, owned by KT's Coaches, based in Kendal, Cumbria, had been parked in a city centre car park before it was taken and driven towards Valley Road.

It hit a wall at Iles Floorcare at Valley Mills at around 1am, becoming wedged across the entire stretch of road, blocking any access to Queen's Road.

When the Telegraph & Argus visited the scene yesterday, Valley Road had been cordoned off my police and the rear of the coach could be seen embedded into a stone wall of the Iles building.

Its front had also been trapped against a wall next to the train line between Bradford Forster Square and Frizinghall, meaning the vehicle was stuck fast.

The rear windows of the coach had been smashed, and extensive damage could be seen on both sides of the vehicle, the front bumper of which had come off and was lying in the road.

Structural engineers were assessing the state of the Iles building, in a bid to safely remove the coach and begin repairing the damage.

Chris Stainton, operations manager at KT's Coaches, said the vehicle had been in Bradford as it was being used as a rail replacement bus service on the Airedale Line, ferrying passengers on journeys between Bradford and Skipton.

He said the driver had been staying overnight in a Travelodge in Bradford when the incident occurred.

"It looks as though it's been broken into and taken for a joyride," said Mr Stainton.

"Fortunately no-one was injured, that's the main thing.

"The people who have done this are degenerates who don't care if they go around wrecking people's livelihoods. They've obviously got nothing better to do with their time.

"It could have been very different, if they had mounted a kerb they could have easily hit someone.

"They have done a lot of damage to the bus in the short distance they've driven, but we'll work with our insurance to try and sort everything out, both for us and the company whose building was hit.

"I'm just thankful that no-one was hurt."

Representatives of Iles Floorcare declined to comment on the incident yesterday.

A police investigation into the circumstances surrounding the crash remained ongoing last night.