A CAR has been damaged after a "corrosive substance" was poured on to the vehicle in a suspected acid attack.

The unidentified liquid was thrown over a white Toyota Aygo in Ainsworth Avenue, Horwich, at just after 2am on Friday.

The substance, believed to be acid, stripped parts of the car's paint down to the metalwork.

Firefighters from Horwich Fire Station rushed to the scene at about 2.30am and donned hazmat suits as they cleaned the substance off the car.

Nobody was injured as a result of the attack and the vehicle only suffered minor damage.

Jason Martin, crew manager at Horwich, said the Toyota was a courtesy car and that the user's normal vehicle had been attacked previously.

He said: "This substance has burned right through to the metalwork of the car. We had to be really careful and test it.

"We could not determine what it was but we do know, from the damage it caused, that it was corrosive.

"We washed the car and made it safe in about an hour.

"The vehicle was a courtesy car and it looks to be a targeted attack."

Acid was legally defined as a highly dangerous weapon in new guidelines published this year in the UK.

This followed a spate of attacks using corrosive substances with more than 400 recorded in England and Wales in the six months up until April 2017.

The police have previously said that the UK has one of the highest rates of corrosive substance attacks in the world.

Adults convicted of carrying a corrosive substance in public for a second time will be given a minimum six-month jail term, and under-18s handed a four-month detention and training order.

Investigations into who carried out the attack in Horwich are under way. Anyone who has any information should call police on 101 or Crimestoppers, anonymously, on 0800 555 111.