To date, Bradford has not been known as the kind of city where ordinary people fear to tread in daylight hours. But the latest sexual assault on an Asian woman by four Asian youths as she made her way back to the Kirkgate Centre car park in the middle of the afternoon has sparked fears that it could be starting to develop that sort of reputation.

Only a week earlier, two youths were sentenced to six years in custody after pleading guilty to robbing a mother who with her two young children was subjected to a terrifying kidnap ordeal in the same car park.

Not surprisingly, these incidents have raised justifiable fears in the hearts of women who hitherto felt safe to walk between their parked cars and the shops, especially in relatively well-lit areas like the Kirkgate Centre.

Surely it is time now to review all the security arrangements at the city-centre car parks and along the access routes leading to and from them.

It might be expensive to install CCTV cameras and employ more security guards to patrol the parking areas, but surely it is better than allowing Bradford to sink to the level of some other cities and for women shoppers - who are the lifeblood of the city centre - to feel so at risk that they take their custom elsewhere.

The ultimate cost of becoming burdened with that sort of reputation, both among the people who live in Bradford and those we seek to attract as visitors, is incalculable.