THIS is the moment audacious thieves made off with two quad bikes worth a total of £20,000 from a Bolton firm.

Three thieves can be seen to run into Moto Centre in Daubhill and attempt to start the quad bikes.

Bosses at the firm's service centre at Stanley Wharf Business Park, in Kirkebrok Road, said they were "gutted" at the thefts.

A Raptor 700 Special Edition in black and a Quadzilla x8 were both stolen from the firm, at about 11am on Sunday, and are said to be worth £10,000 each.

An appeal has been made on social media in an attempt to track down the men and the bikes.

CCTV footage posted shows two men wearing blue T-shirts and grey trousers, with another wearing a cap and a dark blue shirt and blue trousers, attempting to start the quad bikes.

James Jackson, a director at the company, said: "It's very unpleasant, and we are gutted about it.

"As you can see in the CCTV, they just came in and helped themselves.

"We are insured but it represents a cost for the business to report the damage and the loss. The quad bikes are both worth a lot of money.

"It will take a lot of time to go through the insurers, and our premiums will probably rise."

Mr Jackson said that the service centre, which provides services and MOT's for a range of vehicles including motorbikes and quad bikes, is in a secure compound which features a lot of security equipment.

He added: "We haven't had any problems like this before, we have got a lot of security installed and obviously we have got CCTV which shows what happened."

It is understood the matter has been reported to the police.

The firm, which also has a base in Bath Street, has been operating in Bolton for 15 years.