BUSINESSES across East Lancashire have stepped up security after a spate of fuel thefts.

On Sunday, raiders cut through a wire mesh fence and tried to steal fuel from George Broughton Fuel Depot, in Whitebirk Road, Blackburn, but fled empty-handed.

Ian Broughton, managing director at George Broughton's, said a security review would now take place.

He said: "Thankfully, we keep the fuel tanks quite low at night, so there was not a lot of fuel to take.

"For the time being, the wire fence which surrounds the depot will be repaired, but the company plans to discuss further measures, including higher fences, alarms and possibly CCTV."

The British Fuels depot on the Whitebirk Industrial Estate is less than half a mile away from George Broughton's. Derek Crossley, North-West region general manager for the parent company CPL Petroleum, said that depot has also suffered.

"A few weeks ago there was an incident where a vehicle had its fuel siphoned off. I don't know if it was directly linked to the fuel crisis but, as a company, we have not experienced an increase in the amount of fuel being siphoned from our vehicles since the protest started." Other businesses which store fuel on site have suffered. Bob Killelea of James Killelea and Co, Crawshawbooth, stores fuel for the structural engineering firm's wagons. Four weeks ago, 300 gallons of fuel were siphoned out of the wagons, wasting £1,000-worth of fuel.

Bob said: "Since the theft, which we believe to be linked to the fuel crisis, we have introduced a number of measures. The yard is now floodlit, but we have not put locking caps on the wagons. If a locking cap is broken off, it snaps off part of the tank, which means we will have to replace it at a cost of £800.

"Since these measures were introduced, there has been no problem." Depots in other towns have similar worries. But Nick Heath from Cooke Fuels and Lubricants, Padiham, said his company fares quite well. We have CCTV and our compound is fairly safe. To my knowledge we have not been broken into for the last three months.

"Obviously, if people want to get in, they will find a way of doing so. We are always reviewing our security and if we need to do anything else we are in position to do so."

Lancashire Police say although no increase in fuel-related theft has been noticed, they are able to increase patrols if any company is targeted by either protestors or criminals.