Mobile phone muggings on the streets of Keighley are spiralling and young people are the main targets.

Startling figures reveal that 80 per cent of victims of mobile phone robberies in the town are aged between 12 and 18.

Now parents and schools are being asked to do their bit to help halt the escalation, which is being mirrored nationally.

Keighley police will launch a new campaign -- Talk Safe -- later this month to tackle the issue.

Det Insp Christopher Moorehouse said children as young as eight were openly using handsets on the town's streets, and taking them into the classroom.

He said: "A large part of the problem is that parents and carers are giving mobile phones to very young children. Parents say they want to be contactable and that their child should have a phone for safety reasons but, in fact, what they are doing is putting the youngster at risk. The vulnerability placed on the child outweighs any safety benefit.

"You would not send your eight-year-old child to school with a Rolex watch on his wrist, yet a mobile phone is a valuable item and young children are walking the streets with them.

"This is a major problem which has got to be tackled. Some schools have taken a very responsible approach to the issue and have banned pupils from using mobile phones."

Mike Bower, managing director of Keighley-based Link Telecom, said no child under 14 should be allowed to have one.

He said Link Telecom -- which sells around 4,000 mobile phones a month through its outlets -- offered safety advice to all its new customers.

Simple measures include having a personal hands-free kit and using the vibrating feature -- where available -- instead of the ring, which helps disguise the fact a phone is being carried.

He said: "Parents, I think, are becoming increasingly concerned about the dangers of being mugged or attacked for a mobile phone, and certainly I don't think it is safe for children under 14 to have them."

Mr Bower said the whole community -- including phone retailers and the police -- should work together to minimise the value to thieves of taking mobiles.

He added: "The majority of mobiles stolen need to have locks -- which are there to protect networks -- removed. Some retailers will do this and there are often perfectly legitimate reasons for someone wanting a phone unlocked.

"If all serial numbers of mobiles sold in Keighley were logged with the police, and retailers refused to unlock any phones known to be stolen, the problems with theft could be reduced."

Some primary schools said a few pupils did carry mobile phones, but that there were strict rules governing their use.

Jean Richards, head at Lees school, said: "Some children bring mobiles -- namely older pupils who are travelling unaccompanied -- and parents have requested that they have a phone in case anything happens. The children are not allowed to use the phones in school."

Conor Davis, head at Holy Family School in Keighley, said any pupil found using a mobile phone on the site -- or whose mobile goes off in the classroom -- will have it confiscated.

Students at 1,300-pupil Greenhead High School, Utley, are also instructed to keep mobiles turned off.

Head Miles Mizon said: "Pupils are allowed to carry mobile phones because we recognise that for some parents it is important from a security point of view."