A company boss believes she foiled a thief about to steal her sports car from the driveway of her home.

Now Debbie Carroll is calling on the police to recruit the public into the battle to beat gangs targeting prestige cars. She says people should act as the eyes and ears of the community and report people acting and cars being driven suspiciously.

The cleaning company boss confronted a man in his early 20s on her property in the West Lane area of Baildon.

He claimed to be chasing away people throwing snowballs and made his escape in a Mercedes driven by another man. She suspects that the men had earlier followed her home.

It was the quickness of Miss Carroll's report to Keighley Police which enabled them to identify the Mercedes-Benz E240 as a stolen vehicle.

Detectives told her they were investigating the theft of a number of high-performance cars in the wider area. And linked to the thefts, in which the thieves snatched ignition keys by sneaking into homes, was the Mercedes car she had seen driven away by the men.

"I think the police should call on the public for help by informing us that these things are happening in the community," she said. "When someone breaks into your home to steal car keys it is a very scary thing. But we shouldn't roll over and play dead and say that's the way it is.

"The public can do a lot - we can be vigilant, be on the alert and report anything suspicious to police and help them with information."

She would also like to see the police giving out more information to the public about areas where they suspected gangs were operating.

Ms Carroll, 48, stressed she could not fault the police in their response. The force helicopter had been scrambled.

A Keighley Police spokesman said a silver/beige coloured E-class Mercedes that was stolen from an address in Nab Wood, Shipley, on December 29, when a house door was left insecure, was recovered on January 4 in the Girlington area. It was believed it had been involved in three other recent burglaries in the Bradford area - Pudsey, Frizinghall and Baildon.

The police spokesman said: "We would ask that anyone with any information about the theft of this vehicle, or its use in any of the above burglaries over the New Year, contact Keighley CID on (01535) 617 085 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111."

He urged people to always lock their car when leaving it - even if only for a few minutes.