CAR dealers on the White Lund estate fear that criminals are targeting their vehicles to teach 'wannabe' thieves how to steal cars.

Following a weekend which saw an auto crime spree of up to 19 vehicles targeted, White Lund car dealers have spoken out and called for CCTV to be installed on the estate.

Firms such as Marocco Motors, Select Car Sales and Bay Autos have all recently had vehicles either stolen or vandalised.

And they claim different makes and models of small cars are being targeted in what looks like a car crime 'apprenticeship.'

Neil Smith of Select explained: "They are choosing the smaller cars and popping the locks.

If they can't manage that they just smash the windows and then rip out the ignition.

They've not actually stolen any of the cars.

It's as if they've been practicing, serving their apprenticeship or something.

They leave the ones with immobilisers, the bigger cars and are going for smaller cars like Fiestas."

Although very few cars are actually being stolen the ripped our ignitions and brken windows are costing the small businesses a fortune.

Adrian Marrocco of Marrocco Motors, who have had six vehicles damaged by the thieves, said: "The problem is that we have an excess of £250 so we have to pay for every broken window or broken lock out of our own pockets.

"It's like they're coming down late at night to practice, jamming screwdrivers in the locks and smashing windows.

At the moment it's happening every other weekend and something needs to be done."

DS Mark Salisbury said: "We take auto crime very seriously and will be stepping up our patrols on the estate.

The culprits don't realise that their actions are seriously impacting on people's livelihoods and we will be prioritising our resources to put a stop to this.

If anyone has any information about these incidents they should contact the police on 63333."