AT least one major coach company is threatening to boycott Morecambe because their coaches are being vandalised. And other companies are considering putting the resort on their blacklist according to Morecambe hoteliers. Mrs June Nelson of Nelson's Coaches in Wales said she would stop sending her coaches to the resort if the city council and police don't do more to protect vehicles.

Last Friday one of her vehicles had its windscreen smashed and seats ripped out at the car park on next to Frontierland which has a CCTV camera and an eight feet high fence. Another coach belonging to another company was also smashed up in the car park. Police say 14 coaches have been smashed up by vandals since June 1.

Mrs Nelson fumed: "I don't mind paying the £5 to stay at the car park as long it's relatively safe. At Blackpool they have a secure compound patrolled 24 hours a day.

"We can't keep on going back to our insurance companies - there was £2,500 worth of damage to the coach on Friday. The other one was brand new.

"I know they're trying to get more people to come to Morecambe, we've been going for 20 years and used send six to eight trips in a season at its height. We still send a few every year now but we are very seriously reconsidering. We've one going up next month and we'll see after that. We just can't afford it if it happens again. My driver said he would sleep on the coach, but what if there was a gang of them?" One hotelier, Paul Bury of the Lothersdale Hotel, said a number of coach companies had expressed concern and that the coaches bring in about £3 million worth of trade to the resort each year. He added that police advice not to leave valuables on display in the coaches were strictly adhered to already. Owner of the Eidsforth Hotel, Russell Brook, agreed with Mr Bury and added that there had been trouble in a number of car parks. Sgt Paul Denney of Lancaster Police confirmed that there had been 14 break-ins, adding: "In terms of volume, car and other vehicle crime is one of the biggest problems we have. We have initiatives advising the public never to leave valuables on display."

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.