Wyke residents face repair bills running into thousands of pounds today after a mystery tyre slasher damaged their cars.

Tyres were punctured on 15 cars in Garden Field, East Croft, Oakenshaw Court, and Wyke Crescent, between Wednesday and yesterday.

Graham Ward, of Garden Field, said he wanted a higher level police presence in the area. This was the fifth time in three years he had been a victim of car crime. He said: "I find it difficult to sleep at night and if you hear a car alarm go off you assume that your car has been broken into."

He said he had already spent between £800 and £900 on repairing his Volkswagen in the past three years.

Neighbour Robert Cook is also counting the cost of the offence. He has just forked out £200 to repair all four tyres.

Inspector Paul Jeffery, of Odsal Police, confirmed that 15 incidences of damage had taken place.

He said: "This is clearly a problem in the area and we will increase police presence in the village. We cannot identify a motive for the attacks but we would urge residents with any information to come forward."

Converted for the new archive on 30 June 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.