Staff at Airedale Hospital have been warned about a serious rise in thefts from cars only a week after they were told improvements were being made to security arrangements.

A memo from has been circulated to staff informing them of three thefts from cars that have taken place in the last three weeks.

The news comes after Airedale NHS Trust director of planning Doug Farrow said cash from staff car parking permits had been used to improve security. Staff side representative Steve Fowler said: "If we are experiencing a major rise then it seems obvious that the money is not being spent where it should have been.

"Staff representatives have expressed growing concern about this rise because we should be seeing a fall in crime if security has been improved.

"Car crime seemed to be levelling off but now it's on the increase we are very worried about the situation." Mr Farrow said: "This is a significant increase and we have alerted staff with a memo warning them not to leave valuables in their cars. I think the security company CCP is handling things very well and I suspect they have helped reduce crime.

"We got the company in to deal with violent crime, which was certainly a problem for us, and we are happy with the way they are dealing with the situation." The hospital introduced car parking permits for staff in 1995 and workers have to pay £50 for a permit.