A MERCEDES Benz soft-top was torched on its owner's driveway early on Tuesday morning in Lowton.

At around 4am an X-reg Mercedes Kompressor parked on a driveway on Ramworth Drive was completely gutted by fire.

A Leigh Fire service spokesman said someone had poured petrol over the soft-top roof and set it alight.

The car had been parked just yards from the garage doors and the intensity of the fire partially melted the doors.

The spokesman added that if there had been anything near the garage doors the whole garage could have caught fire, and the blaze could have spread to the house attached to the garage.