TRADERS are backing an MP's call for more police action to protect corner shops from violent criminals.

Ribble Valley MP Nigel Evans, whose family runs a convenience store in Swansea, also wants tougher prison sentences to deter attackers.

He told a debate in the House of Commons that a survey by the National Federation of Retail Newsagents had revealed an increased fear of crime in his Ribble Valley constituency, as well as neighbouring Blackburn.

Raiders drove a 4x4 vehicle through the front window of Chatburn Post Office last month and made off in a stolen sports car with a cash machine.

And Mr Evans said: "People are afraid. The postmaster in Chatburn told me there is now a fear factor to being a shopkeeper. Even village traders fear attack."

The MP told the committee there had been 20,000 attacks on small shops in 2001, 40 per cent up on the previous year, with 2002 figures due soon expected to show a further increase.

Mr Evans told the debate that he had personal experience of being a attacked in the family's convenience store in Swansea.

He suffered a black eye, cuts and bruises when a man stole £15 worth of lager from the shop on New Year's Eve, 2000. A man was prosecuted for assault causing actual bodily harm and two counts of left.

He called on Home Office Minister Bob Ainsworth to ensure police were more visible around shops, especially those that opened in the evening, and for convicted attackers to receive tougher prison sentences.

He also called for more close circuit television and for the government to provide grants or tax write-offs for security equipment such as shutters.

The minister said the Government was providing extra cash for security in small shops, including an external CCTV camera outside a late-opening shop in Longridge.

But Mr Evans believes the Government is not doing enough and his campaign is being backed by traders' groups in Ribble Valley.

A former Mayor of the Ribble Valley, Joyce Holgate, was burgled several times during her 15-year ownership of the Abbey Candy Store in King Street, Whalley.

On one occasion, thieves entered the shop via the back door while she was serving at the front counter, and stole her Whalley Chamber of Trade presidential chain worth £500.

She said: "I fully support any campaign that helps traders and would certainly like to see increased CCTV. Criminals are travelling from cities to commit burglaries and robberies in rural areas and shopkeepers are feeling increasingly under attack. I think this is an excellent campaign."

Lancashire's Chief Constable Paul Stephenson said: "I am committed to giving the public more visible officers, but moreover I am determined to ensure that communities are at the heart of policing right across the county.

"Lancashire has recently introduced an additional 80 community beat managers who will be taking up their roles as part of this commitment.

"By the end of the year there will be 250 CBMs, supported by more than a hundred police community support officers, in Lancashire.

"The Constabulary's Eastern Division - covering Blackburn with Darwen, the Ribble Valley, and Hyndburn - will be getting 19 of the new CBMs, bringing the total across that division to 52."