The Prime Minister's stated determination to clear up communities blighted by abandoned cars, announced as part of his attack on the "yob culture", will no doubt have been welcomed by many people in Bradford.

Cars are being burned out around the city on a daily basis. Many of them have been stolen - other people's cherished possessions driven away by youngsters who get their kicks out of wanton destruction. Other cars are torched with their owners' blessing as part of an insurance scam.

This type of crime is becoming ever more of a menace. Today we report of the fear experienced by an Odsal resident when a car was set alight close to her home. Burned-out vehicles are left for days blocking the roads, a dangerous magnet for children and an unsightly, depressing reminder to everyone of the increasing lawlessness in our streets and on our estates.

The Prime Minister is said to be considering plans to make it easier for councils to remove abandoned cars and fine their owners. That is a necessary move, although to fine people who have already had their cars stolen and destroyed is perhaps adding insult to injury. However, something certainly needs to be done to speed up a system which insists that vehicles are left for a week to give the police a chance to trace the owner.

Far better, though, to boost the resources needed to prevent the yobs from stealing the cars in the first place. The problem comes back again to better, higher-profile policing. The Government would surely be wiser to spend money on that than on "bribing" wayward youngsters with trainers and CDs.