The managing director of a successful Keighley firm is hitting back at vandals who have been targeting his factory for the last 12 months.

Graham Penny, MD of Teconnex, based in Chesham Street, says he has spent thousands of pounds over the last year on repairs and security measures to try and stop the vandalism.

"Every Monday morning we come in and there's something. We have had 53 windows broken, at a cost of something like £5,000. We have had a half-inch hole drilled in a water system outside the factory and 75,000 gallons of water leaked away, which we had to pay £2,000 for. We have a car park at the back of the building and we have had all the panels removed from there, and fencing too," says Mr Penny.

The Keighley firm, which employs 137 people at its factory making industrial clamps for prestigious companies like Ford and components for the new Euro-fighter, is not the only company to be suffering at the hands of vandals.

Mr Penny says: "FFC, the company next door to us, has likewise had to spend £5,000 for repairs to windows. It's never ending." Mr Penny estimates his company has spent around £10,000 in the last year and still the problem continues.

Mr Penny says: "Things have got progressively worse. We have been thwarted in our efforts. Whatever we do they just move around the corner. If we put up fencing around the car park they just move around the side of the building.

"We think it's younger children throwing stones or using catapults. Some use air rifles, because we find air rifle pellets inside sometimes."

Mr Penny says the efforts of the police have been unsuccessful so far.

"They are not really interested. I can understand why because they have more important things to do in Keighley, but they have got nowhere," he says.

Despite having already spent so much, Mr Penny plans to spend a further £8,000 for a new CCTV system.

"We've got a camera system but it's not very effective, so we are just about to spend £7,000-£8,000 on a complete CCTV system which will mean we can cover the whole area.

"I think we need an improved CCTV system before anything is going to get done. I don't want to encourage any vigilante type efforts from the businesses around here, it's the police's job.

"We have got to provide the police with evidence in the form of CCTV footage to show what is being done and by whom," he says.

Chris Slaven, pictured, co-ordinator of Keighley's SRB funded Crime Prevention Community Fund, says moves are under way to establish a business watch in the area to try and combat the problems.

He says: "A date has been set for a preliminary meeting.

"We would kick start the idea, much like we would a neighbourhood watch scheme, and they would take it on from there."