Hooded thugs rammed a Nissan Micra into the front of a car firm’s building before ransacking it, causing a fire, and making off in two high value motors.

The police were called to the Shorncliffe Industrial Estate in Folkestone at 1.40am today.

Shorncliffe Autocentre saw a BMW and an Audi stolen, along with scanners, £2,000 in a safety deposit box and some power tools.

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Service manager Carolyn Archer said an estimated £40,000 had been lost in the raid.

The culprits, who have been caught on CCTV carrying out the act, casually took a chocolate bar out of a charity box and began eating it on site.

This is before they torched the Micra and fled the scene, leaving the flames to spread across to a Volkswagen Transporter which was also damaged.

Two fire engines were sent, and on arrival firefighters wearing breathing apparatus used a high pressure hose reel and compressed air foam to contain the flames.

The blaze was put out in about half an hour.

Ms Archer said: “They turned up in a Micra and drove into the front door with the vehicle.

“We have lost about £40,000 including the cars and they took four scanners which are useless to them.

“You can see them on the cameras helping themselves to the charity box, as cool as a cucumber.

“But life goes on and we have carried on around the carnage and have remained open.

She praised the action of the police who checked the cameras straight away before boarding up the front of the premises.

Employees were not aware that anything had happened until they turned up for work.

Ms Archer added: “If someone was hurt then that would be something to get upset about.

“It is just a massive inconvenience, but it is just the way the world is.

“It could have been a whole lot worse, our buildings were almost caught alight.”

A police spokesman said: “Officers attended the scene and discovered a burglary had also taken place at the Shorncliffe Autocentre.

“Inquiries into the circumstances of the fire and the burglary are ongoing.”