A businessman fears teenagers are putting their lives at risk by crossing a railway line to get to wasteland where a shed was set on fire.

Roger Mitchell says the youngsters are sneaking through a gap in a fence, which he has repeatedly asked Bradford Council to fix.

Mr Mitchell, 40, who runs a dance school with wife Joanne, 35, said gangs were risking their necks almost every night to get to the land which borders the Wilson Centre for Performing Arts in John Street, Wycliffe, Shipley.

Mr Mitchell, of Ley Top Lane, Allerton, Bradford, said: “There is a gang of about 15 or 20 down there most nights. We have actually seen them crossing the railway lines to get in there through the fence.

“If they time it wrong, who knows what could happen? I have pestered and pestered the Council but they say they won’t do anything.”

A spokesman for Bradford Council said: “We have looked into this matter and found that in this instance we are not legally liable to maintain or erect a fence along the boundary line of its land. The Council is concentrating its resources on carrying out works which have greater priority but may re-visit this issue as resources permit.”

Shipley fire crew manager Nick Padwick said the shed incident was being treated as arson.