Hooligans have been slammed for disrupting a charity circus raising money for Airedale Hospital. Police were called ten times to stop the youngsters spoiling the performances in Keighley's Victoria Park.

And the chairman of Bradford Council's leisure services department, Councillor Barry Thorne, who witnessed some of the incidents, admitted the Council was having 'major problems' in the park.

Kim Bauer, manager of Circus Starr which ran the events, says in addition to calling the police she had to hire two security guards to man the entrance to the red and white-striped circus tent.

"These youths had been nothing but trouble, spitting at us and jumping on people's cars," she says. "When the police arrived, they even spat at them. It was awful.

"A lot of people were too frightened to watch the shows, which was such a shame. They ruined it for everyone.''

Coun Thorne said: "We are having major problems in the park which is why we are now installing closed-circuit television cameras and ensuring we have security staff down there. But getting the police to respond quickly is the problem at the moment."

Inspector Mick Hopwood, of Keighley Police, said they were investigating a report of damage to a car in Victoria Park. "We do deploy regular patrols to Victoria Park and its surrounding area and will continue to do so," he added.

He said that if anyone had any information about damage in Victoria Park they should ring Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

The nine-member travelling charity circus, which is based in Cheshire, put on two shows on both Tuesday and Wednesday to raise fund for the Trust.

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