A leading union has called for better protection of security guards delivering cash to Bradford businesses.

The number of attacks on "cash in transit" staff working throughout West Yorkshire rose from 26 in 2004 to 45 last year.

Now, just days after raiders carried out a multi-million-pound armed robbery in Kent, Gary Smith, the GMB union's national organiser, called on police to make attacks on security staff a "higher priority."

A West Yorkshire Police spokesman said last year's figures were much lower than those for similar forces.

Det Chief Insp John Gilbody said: "Any increase in this or any type or crime causes concern for West Yorkshire Police.

"However, put in context with the country's other major metropolitan areas, West Yorkshire Police have far lower figures.

"We have been successful in recent years in driving down 'cash in transit' crimes to such a low level it only needs a slight increase in numbers to send the percentage increase soaring.

"I have had meetings with the security industry to see how we can work together to make attacks on such deliveries more difficult. We have dedicated officers who look at these types of offences and we do everything we can to bring those responsible to justice."

Mr Smith said: "The GMB wants the Government to understand and address the impact of such crime and reclassify 'cash in transit' robbery so that it is a higher police priority."

Graham Benton, a GMB spokesman for employees working in the private security sector in West Yorkshire, and a former Bradford security guard, said: "GMB members who are security members in Bradford and throughout West Yorkshire face particular risks and demands associated with their work.

"As seen recently in Bradford there is an ever-increasing trend to use firearms against people going about their daily work.

"GMB members demand the best safeguards, systems of support and protection and call on all the appropriate bodies to ensure that where violence and aggression cannot be eliminated then at the very least measures are in place to deal with it effectively."