POLICE have launched a crackdown on crooks targeting a petrol station labelled one of the most crime-plagued garages in the county.

More than £2,700 worth of petrol has been stolen and a robber has snatched £100 from the till at Bolton Road Service Station, Darwen -- all in the last five weeks.

Police have now launched a range of schemes to combat the crooks after a meeting with garage bosses.

Thefts and frauds at the garage account for 16 per cent of all crime in the area from Whitehall to Darwen town centre.

Projected figures produced by the police for this year showed that if the trend for January was repeated throughout the year, it would account for 29 per cent of all crime in that area.

Det Sgt Neil Hunter of Darwen CID said the station has long been a problem and that something had to be done.

He said: "This station must be one of the worst hit in East Lancashire for drive-offs but hopefully now we have plans in place to do something about it.

"Since I started here in December I noticed that there was a large number of offences at the service station so we decided along with the area PC, PC Catterall, to do some in depth research into the problem.

"The results were outstanding and only highlighted how bad the situation was there.

"Our research found that in 1999 drive offs accounted for nine per cent of the crime in that area and in 2000 that rose to 16 per cent.

"We also found that in a high percentage of those, the car was seen heading towards Bolton. So we believe that criminals from Bolton were going over the constabulary boundary and using this service station to fill up.

"It is the first station you come to if you are heading from Bolton and it is a fairly easy target, but we believe these measures will cut that rate dramatically, not only helping the staff at the station but helping police concentrate their efforts on other problems."

Police said the garage has five times more reported crime than the town's other four service stations.

Ken Kay, who owns the petrol station, said: "We have a profile of people most likely to commit these offences and we are working on negating that problem.

"I am hoping to introduce these special measures in the next fortnight and I certainly hope that the problem will be reduced significantly."

Crime cracking measures include:

Extra CCTV cameras so the pumps and forecourt are covered and a facility for the cashier to monitor and record suspicious activity at night.

The setting up of prior payment pumps at night between 8pm and 6am.

A facility to provide police training for staff so suspicious vehicles and people can be monitored closely.

Posters before and after the station to warn people that security has been increased.

Police are appealing for witnesses to the robbery where £100 was stolen after a man threatened a cashier on January 24. The man was white, in his early 30s, 5ft 10ins tall and wearing a maroon, woollen hat with a motif on the back.

He was also wearing a thigh-length shiny blue anorak, blue jeans and white trainers.

Anyone with information should contact Darwen CID direct on 01254 353842 or the confidential Crimestoppers line on 0800 555111.