Vandals slashed the tyres of more than 40 cars in one night.

Residents in several streets in Rochdale woke to find their cars had been targeted by the thug.

The vehicles were parked in Rooley Moor Road, Emma Street, Edenfield Road, Viking Street and Molyneux Street.

One victim, Louis Blank, was left stranded and late for visiting his wife at North Manchester General Hospital.

He found that his Ford Mondeo parked outside his home in Molyneux Street had had both it's offside tyres slashed.

Mr Blank was forced to put his car in the garage for emergency replacements.

He said: "I visit my wife everyday. She was taken into hospital in December with Sepsis, a type of blood poisoning. All her major organs failed and she wasn't expected to live the night.

"She spent a month on a life support machine, hospital doctors think it's a miracle that she's alive. She's now making steady progress.

"My local garage is replacing the tyres, I don't know what it will cost - but they'll be expensive.

"If they couldn't fix the tyres today I would have had to get a taxi to North Manchester General, which would be about £30 each way.

"It's the sheer number of tyres that have been slashed - it could be hundreds.

"The police need to find out who's doing it and put a stop to it." 

Residents are continuing to report incidents to the police, with the number of damaged vehicles rising.

Police officers are now checking CCTV footage from the area in an attempt to identify suspects.