Thieves escaped with 15 cars worth almost £200,000 after smashing their way into a Bradford hire company and making off with a safe full of keys.

The gang carried off the heavy safe early on Sunday and forced their way inside it to get hold of the keys.

They then returned to the Leeds Road depot of Europcar, broke into the car compound and drove off in the high-value vehicles.

The lease cars, all less than six months old, were mostly middle-range models, including Volkswagen Golfs, Passats and Nissan Almeras. But they included a top-of-the-range VW Passat estate valued at £17,000.

Eight of the vehicles have since been recovered - half of them by Europcar staff who trawled the streets after police found two of the cars in the Undercliffe area.

Today Andy Peirson, manager at the Leeds Road site, said the company had seen an increase in crime problems since a neighbouring garage stopped opening round the clock.

"There is nobody here now between midnight and 6am and we have had a lot of problems," he said.

"There has been a lot of drug dealing outside the offices which we have reported to police, but there is not a lot they can do. Staff have been threatened by people outside when we have asked them to move on.

"We have also had an attempted break-in and, on another occasion, someone walked in, smashed the window of a car and drove off with it.

"We have had to put a lot of restrictions on customers' insurance because of all the insurance claims.

"It's infuriating. Business is good in Bradford but incidents like this get a bit too much."

The break-in was spotted by one of the company's drivers as he drove past with his family on Sunday morning.

Police found four of the vehicles and Europcar staff located a further four parked on streets in Undercliffe and Barkerend.

Most were undamaged and others had only minor damage. Seven cars are still outstanding.

Mr Peirson said: "We are now going to have to get full CCTV surveillance linked to the police. We are going to have to spend a lot of money."

A spokesman for West Yorkshire Police said police arrested three youths aged 17 and 16 from Bradford on suspicion of theft of a motor vehicle. They were bailed pending further inquiries.