Police in Baildon are asking residents to "grass" on gangs of woolly marauders who are straying from Baildon Moor on to residential roads and housing estates.

Beat manager at Baildon Police station PC Ian Hemsworth is urging villagers to take photos of the baa-my army when they catch them wandering about on roads and streets in the area.

He said: "If people see a sheep on the road, they should go out and take a photo, noting the time and the date. They should then contact me and send me a copy.

"I know that people at West Lane have had problems with sheep going into their gardens before, but it becomes a completely different issue when they are left to roam on the road because wandering the highway is an offence."

Residents are concerned about the possible road-safety problems posed by the four-legged invaders. Vice chairman of the Baildon and Shipley Road Safety Committee Eddie Ward said: "The sheep must work their way down into gardens and the only way out for them then is to go into the road.

"I'm concerned that once they're in the road they're in an area where people won't necessarily expect them to be and so won't take appropriate caution."

The issue is due to be discussed at a meeting of the road safety committee tonight at Baildon's Ian Clough Hall at 7.30pm. Councillor Colin Charlesworth (Cons, Baildon), said the problem was "serious" and has vowed to raise the issue at the next Shipley and Baildon Police Community Forum: "People are chasing the sheep out of their gardens and into the road and there's going to be a serious accident one day."

Following a 150-name petition in January 1996, Bradford Council said it would consider installing a cattle grid in Lucy Hall Drive and Mill Lane if the cost - £40,000 - was met by residents and stockholders.

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