THE owner of a car sales business had a narrow escape when a thief drove a BMW he had been test-driving straight at him.

Martin Arnold, aged 51, the owner of MGA Motors on Kidderminster's Wolverhampton Road, was forced to dive out of the way when the 318SE, valued at £7,000, sped past him and headed towards Wolverhampton.

Mr Arnold, who was struck on the hand by the car, said the incident had left him badly shaken.

"I'm convinced if I hadn't jumped out of the way, the man wouldn't have stopped," he said.

"I'd have been left with a couple of broken legs, some broken ribs and he would still have got away with the car."

The theft at about 4.15pm on Saturday came after two men, who arrived in a silver Alfa Romeo convertible, called at the showroom earlier in the day.

Mr Martin said they looked around and said they would call back later. When they returned, one of the men asked to test drive the BMW and later they asked to look under the bonnet.

The sales boss got out and was about 4ft away at the rear of the vehicle when he heard the engine being revved.

He jumped out of the way and then stood in front of the car when it started going forwards.

The men are described as black and smartly dressed. One was around 6ft 5ins tall and the other was 6ft.