THREE workers have been disciplined after a pitstop at a Blackburn garage nearly ended in disaster.

The left rear wheel of Neil Whittaker's Citroen Saxo fell off an hour after he had new tyres fitted at the King Street branch of National Tyres and Autocare.

Neil, 24, felt a bump then a loud scraping noise as he drove along Blackburn Road, in Darwen and was astonished to see the tyre bounce across the road, narrowly missing a car coming in the other direction.

Three members of staff at the Blackburn branch are being disciplined for the mistake after they did not carry out the company's procedure for refitting wheels.

Neil said: "One minute I was driving along and the next minute my back end goes down and there was an almighty scraping and sparks flying everywhere.

"My wheel shot across the road, nearly hitting a Citroen, but then it hit a fence and came to rest on the other side of the road.

"Luckily, it did not hit anybody else but I was due to travel on the M65 to Preston that day. If it had come off on the motorway then who knows what would have happened? Thankfully, I was only doing about 30mph." Neil, of Faroes Close, Blackburn, complained to National Tyres and Autocare.

The firm has paid for £300 of repairs and has promised to refund Neil £129 for the work they carried out on his car as a gesture of goodwill.

He was told one of the garage workers had taken over after the job was nearly finished, but had forgotten to tighten the nuts on the last wheel.

Neil, who works at Currys electrical store on Whitebirk retail park, said: "It's not the standard of work you expect from a well-respected large firm."

National Tyres and Autocare's head of marketing Michael Bourne said it was an isolated incident but it was being treated with the 'utmost seriousness'.

"With regard to our internal actions, I can confirm that disciplinary action is being taken against all three members of staff at our Blackburn branch for failing to follow the company's well documented procedures."