LATE night drinkers have been blamed for the thousands of pounds in damage done to cars every week on two Clitheroe streets.

Dozens of drivers in the Woone Lane and West View areas have reported incidents in recent weeks, said police.

The vandalism has ranged from snapping windscreen wipers and side-mirrors to throwing garden planters at windows. There have also been reports of cars being scratched.

Police said they have been deluged by calls from irate residents, normally on a Saturday or Sunday morning, leading officers to think drunk revellers are responsible.

Local residents claim the road is used by those walking home from pubs and nights out in Whalley. One resident said: "Every weekend is the same. You get up on a morning and the odds are your car has been damaged or tampered with.

"If you are lucky, they have just mucked around with the windscreen wipers. But more often than not, it has been scratched or smashed."

Inspector Bob Ford, of Clitheroe Police, said: "It certainly isn't youngsters who are involved in this, it is people who have jobs but go and get drunk at the weekend and think it is funny to do this sort of thing.

"We have arrested three men and they have been released on police bail pending further enquiries.

"Woone Lane is one of our hotspots and we are working to try and prevent what is happening. It is mindless vandalism."

Coun Mary Robinson, who sits on the town and borough council, said: "People in Woone Lane are suffering terribly, they have told me so.

"They are having their insurance premiums hit by having to make claims for damages, often running into hundreds of pounds, because of a stupid idiot's idea of a joke. I don't know what make these people tick."