BUSINESSES in the run-up to Christmas will have been doing a roaring trade as everyone gets swept away in the shopping frenzy which is overwhelming the religious festival.

For the traders, coping with the longer opening hours and extra custom is one thing but there are a host of other problems which are magnified at this time of year. Gangs of big city shoplifters target areas like Ilkley hoping to take advantage of the crowds to get away with stolen goods.

Then of course are the more audacious thieves who simply drive cars through the windows of shops in the early hours in order to get away with huge loads of items to sell in public houses to less scrupulous present buyers. Both sets of criminals have been active in Ilkley lately, simply adding to the frustrations of those running businesses.

As if that wasn't enough we also have the more subtle type of criminal, hoping to cash in on the natural fear and confusion of small business people when confronted with Government officialdom and red tape.

A letter to businesses threatening their owners with a fine of up to £5,000 unless they send off £95 to comply with the Data Protection Act seems as good a scam as any, as we report this week.

To a harrassed trader this sort of thing is simply another irritation and many are duped into sending off the money. For their £95 plus VAT, all they get is a service they don't need and would only cost £35 if they did need it.

Of course it only takes a couple of telephone calls to discover that the whole thing is a fraudulent scam designed to fleece the gullible, but the rate such companies keep springing up after they have been shut down suggests a high rate of success.

It all adds up to another erosion of the feeling that it is the season of goodwill.