IF we re-wrote the Book of Modern Rights, the right to park our own vehicles outside our property in safety would probably rank highly.

Yet, residents in Great Lever are used to waking up to discover that their cars have yet again been stolen, trashed and dumped on waste land. It is almost the local sport.

One recovery firm has been so inundated with call-outs that it has had to draft in more tow-trucks from other towns to help.

The people of Bolton should be able to go to bed and wake up with their home and property still there and intact.

If this takes a greater police presence, in this area and elsewhere, more surveillance, and a "name and shame" policy in the courts, then so be it.

Without positive action soon, residents will be forced to surrender communities to the vandals and thugs.