VANDALS are making their mark on the St Walburge's and St Mark's areas of Preston by daubing graffiti onto walls, fences, bridges and buildings.

Police are determined to get to the bottom of the graffiti craze -- known as 'tagging' -- by taking photos of all tags.

Then, when a person is caught red-handed, they can be identified as the author of other graffiti.

A public meeting held before Christmas to discuss the problem, and a high-profile police presence, has failed to curb the spray-can crooks.

Local councillor Elaine Abbot said: "We tried to tackle this problem before Christmas and, for a short time, it seem to have worked.

"But things have got worse. The graffiti appears in very prominent places and we spot the same signatures again and again. It is a major concern for residents who have to look at this mess day in, day out."

Last year Railtrack had to repaint the bridge close to the St Walburge's four times to cover up graffiti.

Coun Abbot added: "We are bitterly disappointed that it has flared up again.

"We thought we had done enough by asking shops to stop selling paint to children and asking the police to warn local off licences to stop selling alcohol to youngsters, but it seems not."

A Preston Police spokesman said: "We are determined to find out who is doing this because it is criminal and causes a lot of problems."

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