CRIME has emerged as a major concern for Bury businesses.

That's according to Bolton and Bury Chamber, which has just surveyed its members in an effort to count the true cost of business crime.

The research was part of a wider survey by the British Chambers of Commerce covering 3,000 UK firms and demonstrating that crimes against business costs the UK economy £18.8billion per year.

Firms are more than twice as likely to be the victim of crime than individuals and, on average, crime costs a company £5,000 per year.

Kay Gregson, director of customer services for the chamber, said: "The UK chamber survey is the largest and most detailed of its kind and is part of a campaign by the chamber movement nationally to identify the true scale and impact of crime against business and dispel they myth that there are no victims. "Early results from Bolton and Bury businesses show that 63 per cent of companies surveyed have been a victim of crime in the past 12 months, compared to 58 per cent nationally."

She added: "The most common crimes in Bolton and Bury were burglary, attempted burglary and vehicle damage, with vandalism and graffiti cited as the second biggest problem.

"A number of respondents had also been affected by vehicle theft and employee theft."

In 24 per cent of cases of local crime, the cost to the business was less than £1,000. But in ten per cent of cases, it cost between £10,000 and £50,000 to put the damage right and, in one instance, the crime cost between £50,000 and £100,000.

Bolton and Bury businesses also believe there are added costs in terms of disrupted trading, higher insurance premiums and the affect it has on staff morale.

Despite the costs, ten per cent of businesses failed to report crime to the police.

Firms believe that tougher sentencing, faster police response, video camera surveillance and grant assistance are all very effective ways to reduce crime against business.

Respondents also believed police should focus more on tackling anti-social behaviour and drugs, and should put out more foot patrols.

Businesses wishing to prevent crime against their business can contact the Bury Community Safety Partnership team on (0161) 253 5182.