PRESTON is being plagued by pavement plunderers who are raiding the town by night and ripping up valuable flagstones.

Scores of streets in the town centre have become a target for the thieves, believed to be private contractors who sneak into Preston in the dead of night and leave with thousands of pounds-worth of flagstones. The problem has become particularly prevalent since Coronation Street's Les Battersby tried to dig up the street's cobbles to sell on to gardeners, in the television programme.

But in Preston, it is the traditional-style paving stones which have been nabbed - worth much more than the concrete versions.

Ironically, the streets left pavement-less often end up with the bland slabs, much to the disgust of residents who say it spoils the character of their street.

Council bosses are now being forced to deploy teams of workmen to replace the stones with new cheaper ones.

In two recent incidents, residents on parts of Muncaster Road and Elgin Street, in the Moor Park area, woke to find the pavements outside their home had been removed overnight.

Due to heavy rain, the pavements had turned into a muddy bog, which residents had to tackle to get to their cars.

They complained to councillor Mick Moulding, who said: "It is wrong that these expensive stones are being stolen.

"We are effectively paying for someone to have paving in their posh back gardens.

"The traditional stone adds more character to an area than the cheap concrete slabs used now."

Mahmoud Labib, Preston's director of technical services, said:

"Private building contractors simply steal these materials for using their own projects."

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