Watch as man on digger smashes up the new Travelodge on Edge Lane

Merseyside Police are appealing for information after a man used a digger to destroy the reception of the new Travelodge hotel on Edge Lane on the day the building was due to be completed.

Footage which has gone viral online shows the vehicle repeatedly smashing into the hotel on Edge Lane which was under construction.

“The handover was today, everything completed, we’d put the last tile in, cleaned up and made sure everything was perfect,” ceiling fixer Samuel White, 24, told the Press Association on Monday.

“Then some idiot in a mini digger decided to drive through the middle of the building.”

Bloody hell this digger driver has just smashed up a Travelodge because he's not been paid pic.twitter.com/FeIEm0Erhw

— Ryan Williams (@razza699) 21 January 2019

There were construction workers inside the hotel at the time and Merseyside Police said one man was treated for eye irritation due to exposure to diesel, but did not believe anyone else was injured.

Mr White repeated claims made by many on social media that the driver of the digger was angry over a pay dispute said to involve £600.

More footage from inside the travel lodge.dont know who filmed it. pic.twitter.com/DHS8ivypTh

— paul brown (@pebro63) 21 January 2019

He said the destruction, which started shortly before 3pm, went on for “a good 20 or 30 minutes” before the driver left the vehicle and ran off.

“There were loads of workers outside all gobsmacked, jaws to the floor wondering what’s going on,” said Mr White.

“The site manager was running around like a headless chicken, he wasn’t happy at all.”