Ilkley Police have issued a stark warning to the town's skateboarders - 'behave or be arrested'.

Sergeant Esther Hobbs says she has been forced to adopt a tougher approach after receiving two complaints from residents outraged at anti-social behaviour from skaters.

The first was from a businessman, who actually supported the bid to create an Ilkley skateboard park, but claimed his company premises were being badly damaged by some followers of the sport.

The second was from an outraged woman who was shopping in Brook Street when she was hit and injured by a skater's out of control board.

Sgt Hobbs said: "With the good weather we've been having the skateboarding problem has been raising its head again, I'm afraid.

"The lady who was injured in Brook Street was absolutely distraught and outraged that she couldn't even go shopping in the centre of town without being hurt.

"The skater had fallen off and his board had flipped back and hit her leg, it looked quite bad. She, and the man, who believes they have been causing criminal damage to his property, are demanding we take some action and we've been looking at ways of doing that, because the skaters are proving to be a nuisance in a lot of ways.

"They are skating in inappropriate areas and damaging places like the church and the Moors Shopping Centre. So far we have just been giving warnings because we didn't want to use a sledgehammer to crack a nut - we, like a lot of people in the town, actually support the building of a skatepark for them.

"But our warnings have been ignored. So we will be taking action and arresting them for things like obstruction and damage if they continue to pose a danger to residents or businesses."

Adding that skaters could also face civil action from anyone they injured, Sgt Hobbs appealed to them to be patient, and sensible, while waiting for the skate park to open.

She also urged Ilkley parents to try to ensure their children didn't take part in any anti-social skating.

She said: "Some parents we have talked to have responded by saying 'they don't have anywhere else to do it', but using public streets, car parks, and churches is causing problems and damage, it's not the answer.

"There are several avenues we can pursue to tackle this but they would all be unnecessary if the skaters just heeded our warnings and only skated in places where no-one else is going to mind.

"It would be great if a local business person could agree to let their car park be used by them out of office hours until the skate park is built."