A CLITHEORE street has been branded by police as the worst in the town for car crime.

Highfield Road has been the scene of around 50 separate attacks over the last two years, resulting in £1,000s worth of damage to resident’s cars, police said.

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The latest attack, which saw a Nissan’s offside wing mirror snapped off at the weekend, joins a long list of car crimes including windows being smashed, car paint being scratched and mirrors being broken.

Clitheroe Police said that the road has a high number of repeat victims but said that there are is no evidence to suggest that the residents are being specifically targeted.

In response to the crime spike members of the local neighbourhood policing team are set to step up their patrols in the area to try and curb car crimes which particularly occur on Friday and Saturday nights.

Officers are also set to further monitor CCTV in the area and have asked residents to be extra vigilant.

Sergeant Dave Simpson said: “This road has caused us some real problems over the years.

“We think that it has a high number of car crimes as it’s a main thoroughfare in the town for people to get to and from the centre.

“Most of the incidents are happening during the night on Friday and Saturdays and it’s likely that these are just random attacks instead of specific residents being targeted.

“However, there is a number of residents who have been repeat victims and we are working hard to make sure that the number of incidents are cut.

“Highfield Road is the worst road in Clitheroe for this type of crime and we hope that our efforts over the coming weeks and months help to stop that being the case.”

Kevin Horkin, chairman of the Ribble Valley Community Safety Partnership, said: “I would welcome any crackdown by our local police on getting to grips with this.

“I can tell you that at every meeting this year this the unnecessary increase in car crime is something that I have brought up with the police.

“We have always said the Ribble Valley is the safest place to live and work and statistically that is true.

“However I worry that it has created a relaxed atmosphere in which people take safety for granted.

“We will have to work out a way to put a slightly different message to the public.”

Anyone with information or concerns call 101.