A couple were shocked when they returned home to find someone trying to repossess the garage they bought six years ago.

Sharon Moffatt and her husband, Andy, bought their house and garage under Bolton Council's right to buy scheme.

But Mrs Moffatt, aged 36, returned from the school run last Friday morning to hear the alarm sounding in the garage, which is in the back garden of their home in Maple Close, Kearsley.

When she went to investigate, she saw a parked Bolton at Home van and an employee rifling through their possessions and those of their children, Daniel, aged 15, and Josh, aged eight.

The official had broken the garage locks and is said to have told Mrs Moffatt that he had been instructed to repossess it.

Mr Moffatt, aged 39, a lorry driver, came home from work to help resolve the problem.

He said: "I'm furious that my wife should come home to find a stranger breaking into our garage.

"Someone at the council is doing a useless job. We take care of our property and want to keep our home secure, but now we've been left with no lock on the garage and nowhere secure to park our car.

"I'd be in big trouble if I damaged a council property and this is really no different."

He said an hour of phone calls revealed that the council's legal department had failed to pass on the relevant deeds for the garage to Bolton at Home, who believed that it was empty and belonged to them.

Mr Moffatt said: "I might have understood a clerical error six years ago when we bought the property, but this seems ridiculous."

A Bolton Council spokesman said: "We are sorry to hear about this.

"However, there are several checks in the conveyancing process, on behalf of the vendor and the buyer, to ensure that the documentation which is produced for both parties at the completion of the process is correct.

"Bolton Council has demonstrated its competence in dealing with thousands of right to buy applications since the scheme was first introduced in the 1980s."

A Bolton at Home spokesman said: "We understood the garage was an empty property, belonging to the council, and took measures to gain access.

"Bolton at Home would like to assure the resident that the locks will be replaced and has offered the use of an alternative garage in the meantime."