THE owner of a children's designer clothes shop was facing a bleak Christmas after masked men ram-raided the store and plundered £15,000 worth of stock.

Alison Massey, of Carousel, Gisburn Road, Barrowford, said her festive trade had been devastated because she would struggle to replace designer ranges in time for Christmas.

Three men wearing balaclavas smashed a black Peugeot car into the shop front at 7.30pm yesterday.

Police said the raiders wedged a piece of wood under the door and then drove the car against it to force their way in.

Miss Massey, who runs the store with mum Linda, has run Carousel in the village for more than 28 years.

She said: "We moved from across the road in February and were in the process of carrying out building work. The raiders had the cheek to use a panel of wood from the scaffolding which was put up around the shop to ram the door and get in. I was livid when I found out what had happened and we will be looking at taking out extra security measures."

Miss Massey said they would not be able to re-order the stock in time for Christmas.

"Because each item of clothing is an individually designed piece it would be impossible to re-order the same batch of clothes.

"The estimated value of stock taken was at cost price so it will impact on our Christmas takings."

Other traders in Barrowford have also been targeted in recent years, including Scruples, a designer mens store in Gisburn Road and Robert Anthony, also a clothes store, which was raided just a few months ago.

Miss Massey said she will be meeting with other traders in the area in the coming days to form an action plan.

She said: "This gang knew what they were doing when they came into the shop because they took all the most expensive stuff. I know that Scruples have boulders around the shop and have a system whereby fog filters into the room if anybody breaks in. it is something we will be looking at implementing."

Margaret Crossley, councillor for the Barrowford ward said: "Because Barrowford is a village that has a lot of designer shops then unfortunately it is a target for criminals.

"I think the traders should consider introducing some kind of security system into Barrowford which would help deter the thieves. They should perhaps looking at implementing CCTV which would help prevent crime in the first place or help detect the criminals when a crime has been committed."

Det Sgt Steve Pemberton, of Nelson CID, said: "We are appealing for any witnesses who saw anything suspicious around the time of this offence to come forward and speak to us. This was a serious crime and a substantial amount of expensive clothing was stolen."

One of the men was described as white, 5ft 6ins, stocky, wearing jeans a dark jacket and bobble hat.

If anyone has any information they should contact police on 01282 472644 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.