A MAN with a machete stole and crashed a woman’s car in Leigh.

At around 4.15pm on Friday a 35-year-old woman was in her white Mitsubishi Lancer in Bradshawgate when a man drove into the back of her.

The man in a dark grey Volvo estate pulled alongside and signalled for her to follow him down King Street and into St Helens Road.

The woman thought she was travelling to a safe place to swap details but in Etherstone Street she was met by a man carrying a machete and wearing a balaclava.

He punched her and kicked her to the ground before taking her keys and taking her car with a passenger from the Volvo. They drove along St Helens Road before crashing the vehicle on Newton Road, Lowton.

Both men fled the scene towards a housing estate and to Moss Industrial Estate.

The woman had cuts to her head, bruising to her knees and elbows and swelling to her face.

Officers are appealing for witnesses to the incident and are particularly interested in speaking to a woman who saw the initial collision.

Anyone with information should contact police on 0161 856 7225 or 101 quoting reference number 1590 of Friday, May 12.