A FIRE at Halfords is being treated as deliberate, crews say.

Firefighters were called to a fire in a shipping container at the store in Burnden in the early hours of this morning.

A large quantity of tyres had gone up in flames inside the storage container, which is located at the rear of the Manchester Road store.

The entire contents of the 20ft container were engulfed in fire.

Martin Finch, watch manager at Bolton Central, said: "When we arrived the doors to the container were wide open. It was a storage container for tyres that Halfords use during their car services.

"We used two hose reels to extinguish the fire.

"The fire is being treated as deliberate and the police have been informed."

Two fire engines from Bolton Central Fire Station were called to the blaze shortly before 1.30am today.

Crews remained in attendance for about 35 minutes.