POLICE are hunting a group responsible for a failed early morning ram-raid attack on a Baildon food store.

A silver Toyota Avensis ploughed into the Co-Op in Baildon early yesterday morning, leaving a scene of devastation that prevented the popular store from opening for several hours.

The store, on 1-3 The Stithes, off Baildon Road, was raided shortly before 2am, although nothing is believed to have been taken.

The car involved was later found abandoned, and an appeal has now gone out to help find the people responsible.

As the sun rose the damage to the store could be clearly seen - the security shutter had been dislodged and lay on the ground in front of the store, the window was cracked, and the door frame bent inwards. Workmen spent much of the morning repairing the frontage and making it possible for the store to re-open, which it did in the early afternoon.

A spokesman for the Co-Op Food Stores said: "The police are investigating, and we would appeal for anyone with information about the incident to come forward."

A police helicopter crew was dispatched to search for those responsible, but was unsuccessful.

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said: "At about 1.40am on Thursday, suspects damaged the metal shutters to gain entry to a shop off Browgate.

"The offenders are believed to have been disturbed during the raid, in which nothing was stolen.

"A silver Toyota Avensis was discovered abandoned nearby a short time later."

Detective Sergeant Rob Stevens, of Bradford District CID, added: "We believe the suspects may have used this vehicle to gain entry to the shop and then fled when they were disturbed, possibly towards Cliffe Avenue.

"I would appeal to anyone who saw a silver saloon vehicle of similar description in the area in the time leading up to this incident, or anyone who saw any suspicious activity in the Baildon area around that time, to contact Bradford District CID on 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111."

Last year, staff at the same store were subject to a terrifying knifepoint robbery in which staff were threatened by a hooded man, who later left with cash and cigarettes.

And in 2008 a shop assistant was pistol whipped when two men carried out a late night robbery on the store.

On the latest incident Baildon ward councillor Roger L'Amie (Con) said: "This is obviously not the type of thing we want to see happening. Crimes like this are also a problem because they might get shops wanting to put in more security features. We don't want shops in areas like Baildon that disappear behind high duty shutters at night."

He said shops may start installing posts in front of their windows if such "ram raid" crimes continue.