Traders are fed up with a mini crime wave sweeping through Shipley town centre and say they are prepared to pay hundreds of pounds for their own crime-busting cameras.

Thieves have struck at nearly every shop in Westgate in the past few months - even stealing an elderly charity shop volunteers' cash card before withdrawing hundreds of pounds from her account.

The criminals, who are believed to be from out of town, have targeted New You barbers, where they took more than a thousand pounds, and Sagars Pet Shop, where they stole money from the till and a rabbit run from the pavement outside.

Shop windows have been smashed, goods have been stolen from street displays and businesses have been ransacked by burglars looking for money, traders say.

Stalls in Shipley's indoor market have also been hit.

Now shop owners on the street say they have had enough of thieves damaging their livelihoods.

They want to install their own CCTV system, which could cost up to £1,000, which they say would offer greater protection than the existing town centre system.

Howard Russell, owner of Elsie Russell florists in Westgate, said: "We are not vigilantes. We want to get on with running our businesses. Nobody wants big brother but we have got to be more vigilant than we have been because this is happening a lot and these people seem more organised.

"When detectives have come to investigate they ask us if we have CCTV because the camera at the top of the street is always pointing in the wrong direction.

"We want something that is on 24 hours a day. If we can get it off the ground with some funding from the council that would be good, but we are willing to do pay for it ourselves."

Odette Lewis, owner of New You hairdressers in Westgate, discovered £1,200 had disappeared from her handbag following a theft in March.

She was on her own when she found a man upstairs in her salon who asked if she cut children's hair. When she told him to go downstairs, she discovered another man in the shop. After the pair left she realised the money had gone.

Traders say the same men have been seen a number of times acting suspiciously in Westgate since the theft.

Mrs Lewis said: "Since that happened, I always have two staff here. I think we need CCTV on the street because this is happening every other week."

Sergeant Khalid Khan, of Shipley Neighbourhood Poli-cing Team said: "Providing the private CCTV is visible, there are signs saying it is there and it doesn't compromise people's privacy, there should be no problem.

He added: "The people suspected of doing this are known to police and we are investigating."