A TRADER today called for CCTV cameras to be installed in a town centre after vandals smashed her shop's window with a ten-foot scaffolding pole.Michelle Harrall's clothes shop My Gear was the third premises in Felixstowe's shopping area to be targeted by yobs in the past fortnight.

A TRADER today called for CCTV cameras to be installed in a town centre after vandals smashed her shop's window with a ten-foot scaffolding pole.

Michelle Harrall's clothes shop My Gear was the third premises in Felixstowe's shopping area to be targeted by yobs in the past fortnight.

"I think it is time we had closed-circuit television cameras in Hamilton Road - they would at least act as a deterrent and if not they would catch on film whoever is doing this," she said.

"My shop is the third in the past couple of weeks. Felixstowe used to be a nice quiet town but it is not now and we need to move with the times and this is the time to have cameras.

"I would be prepared to pay a contribution towards the cost of them and I am sure many other traders would as well.

"This vandalism is just mindless - if they had stolen something I could understand why they had done it, but this I cannot understand at all.

"I know some people might not agree with CCTV, and perhaps if someone is hell bent on slinging a pole through your window there would not be much you can do about it. But at least you would see on film who had done it."

As well as the cost of the window, probably around £600, she had also lost all the clothes in the window display - they would have to be thrown away as she could not take a chance that a sliver of glass would be left in the fibres.

"It is terrible, and a horrible mess. We are a small shop and have only been open six weeks and the window is my only advertising - now it is boarded up and it looks like we are closed, which we are not," she added.

Police were called to remove the pole after it was left sticking out of the broken window eight feet in to Hamilton Road, causing potential danger for pedestrians.

It is thought the vandals may have got it from a nearby skip.

A Felixstowe police spokeswoman said community police officers were aware of the damage and were increasing patrols in Hamilton Road. Anyone with information about the incidents should contact police on 01473 613500.

Suffolk Coastal council has looked at CCTV for Felixstowe previously and drawn up a scheme for the town, seafront and A14, but the project did not win government funding.

Felixstowe Town Council currently has a task group looking at the issue to see if it could be provided in a different and cheaper way.

n Do you think Felixstowe should have CCTV - if so, who should pay for it? Write to Your Letters, Evening Star, 30 Lower Brook Street, Ipswich, IP4 1AN, or e-mail EveningStarLetters@eveningstar.co.uk