AFTER three years of vandalism and being kept awake at night worrying, the owners of the Power Games shop in Colne have threatened to close their premises unless they are allowed to install electric shutters on their shop front.

Wayne and Kathryn Richardson, who live above the shop in Church Street, bought the premises in May 1999 and within three weeks of opening a brick had been thrown through the large front window causing £900-worth of damage.

Within a week a second smaller window was smashed and £80-worth of stock, which includes PlayStations and games, were stolen. The couple decided they had no alternative but to fit grids on the windows, which cost £750.

In April this year they had toughened glass supplied by the Home Office and were told they no longer needed the grids but three weeks later a huge boulder was thrown at the window and the glass popped out of its frame.

Mr Richardson said: "If we don't get something done soon I will close the shop and board it up. Other people are feeling the same way as me but it's just that with selling electrical goods I tend to get targeted because people see this stuff as easy to sell.

"We live above the premises but we don't want to stay there. We dare not move away because we need to keep an eye on the shop. Youths keep shaking the grids as they go past at 2am and it vibrates upwards to where we are trying to sleep and it keeps the children awake as well.

"They aren't targeting us for pure vandalism it's simply because they see what we are selling. We spoke at the Colne and District Committee to get the ball rolling and we will now have to put in an application for permission for the shutters.

"I'm sure it is in their interest to get something sorted out rather than see the shop close down and lose a business. We call the police who have come out to us but by then I have shouted to them and they have run off."

The couple is hoping to get permission from Pendle Council to have electronic punch-hole shutters on their building which the insurance companies have said they will require before they will even give them a quote. But planning manager Andy Wiggett said at the meeting of the Colne and District Committee that the matter would have to be looked into as the shop is in a Conservation Area which does not allow such shutters.

He said the couple would be sent information on the policy surrounding shutters in the hope a compromise could be reached.

Mrs Richardson told the committee that if they had not been living above the premises and been able to scare them off on several occasions the vandals would have stolen property. She said: "After three years we still feel like we can't move out because of what is going on. We can't get insurance for our property because they tell us we need these shutters. We just want them for our piece of mind and so that we can carry on trading with insurance."

Sergeant David Burns, of Colne Police, said he was aware of incidents of vandalism at the shop and had been to speak to the couple after the boulder was thrown at the window.

He said: "We obviously can't comment on the shutters because it is council policy but we do advise everyone to take the best security precautions they can. They did have the plastic-type toughened glass put in but the problem that time it seems was that it was fitted to old frames which just gave way when the force hit the window.

"We have been told the new CCTV system should be up and running by September and there will be a camera covering Market Street and Church Street so hopefully that will make them feel safer.

"Apart from this shop we are not aware of a big problem of vandalism in that area."