A CRICKLADE couple want the town to be policed by officers from Swindon after a man was nearly shot with an airgun.

Mark Ingle and Cherise Hutchinson, proprietors of the Vale Hotel Inn and Restaurant on Cricklade High Street, say they have suffered at the hands of vandals, thugs and drunks for two years and the situation is getting worse.

The couple claim that Cricklade, which is policed by C Division based at Wootton Bassett, has become a no-go area after dark following a string of vandalism, attacks and intimidation.

The couple say the final straw came when a yob fired a string of airgun pellets at the side of the hotel on Tuesday night, one of which nearly hit a customer who had gone outside to see what the noise was.

Mr Ingle, 38, who moved from Oxford two years ago to manage the hotel, said: "I know it's going to sound strange, but Cricklade has become a no-go zone - I will not even let Cherise go out after dark to walk her dog, it's got so bad.

"In the past two years we have seen billboards smashed, youths stop cars and shout abuse in the road, people urinate against the side of the hotel and customers' vehicles in the car park have had their tyres slashed and paintwork scratched we've had enough.

"We've started to feel like we are being targeted and need security cameras to monitor events. We are terrified at night because of the fighting that goes on even our own pub car park is not safe.

"Things have got so desperate that we want to come under Swindon police division because on the occasions officers have come out they have dealt with things professionally and promptly, and when they turn up we feel safe. It took local police half and hour to turn up on Tuesday night."

Mr Ingle says he has even thought of leaving the hotel because a handful of youths control the town more than the police.

It was around 10pm on Tuesday night that shots were first heard in Bath Road outside the hotel. Indents left from a .22 air rifle are clearly visible on the window frames and brickwork.

Builder and decorator Steve Fothergill, 32, stepped outside to see where the noise was coming from and felt a ricocheting pellet fly past his ear.

Mr Fothergill, of Cuverhay, said: "I looked round the corner and heard a shot, but couldn't see anyone. It ricocheted off the pavement and past my ear I didn't hang around because I was petrified. It's not exactly the kind of thing you expect in Cricklade."

Cricklade is on the border of the Wiltshire police C and D Divisions. Response times dictate that the police should respond to an emergency call out in rural areas, like Cricklade, within 20 minutes while an emergency call out in urban areas should be attended in 10 minutes.

Swindon police inspector Mark Garrett said: "Policing is dictated by local authority boundaries, but I totally understand and sympathise with Mr Ingle's position.

"Unfortunately he is at the edge of the division that police that area, but there are still response times that need to be met in relation to our performance targets."

No representative of Cricklade police was available for comment.