VANDALS have left their mark on Old Town - and businesses are suffering because of it.

In just one day the Advertiser photographed more than 50 examples of graffiti in Victoria Road and the surrounding area. Some are shown on these pages.

Now shop owners and residents say it is time something was done to clean the area up.

As previously reported, areas such as Toothill and Moredon have had similar problems in the past, although the council is now working to get rid of the graffiti there.

People living and working in Old Town say the area looks run down and scruffy and it is putting people off using businesses there.

Claire Richardson, 28, the branch manager of Catering Services International, said: "We've had the wall outside sprayed three times and each time we've gone out ourselves to clear it up.

"It is a mess and it puts people off coming in. We are a professional business but the graffiti just looks rough."

Jane Black, of the Christian Bookshop, said: "The graffiti looks very unsightly and makes the town look run down "I don't know what the council can do about it though - as soon as it is cleaned up it comes back again."

Mrs Black, 67, said she couldn't remember her shop having any problems with graffiti in the past.But she has had her windows smashed. "I think the problems with vandalism are connected to drunk people coming out of the pub," said Mrs Black.

"They are walking down the hill and just do it for fun."

Fiona Choo, the owner of the Sandown Bed and Breakfast in Victoria Road, thinks the graffiti has tarnished everyone's business in Victoria Road.

"It's making the area look run down and I feel it is stopping people coming here because it looks awful," she said. "I would like something done about it."

Nikki McKinlay, manager of the Giant Party Shop at Regent Circus, said action needs to be taken. "It looks horrible, when you are on the train you can see it all along the tracks," said the 37-year-old, of Wroughton.

"Sometimes you wonder how they manage to reach some of the spots they have graffitied.

"It makes Swindon look scruffy to visitors and lowers the tone of the town. The council should be doing something about it."

Ben Litman, who lives in Old Town, said graffiti was starting to become a real problem.

"When you live or work here you don't notice it, but to visitors graffiti it is going to stick out like a sore thumb," said the 26-year-old electrician.

"Even when businesses take it upon themselves to paint over it or clean it up, within a couple of weeks someone has come along and put their tag on it.

"Tony Blair was here cleaning up graffiti in Toothill - maybe we should get him back again to sort out Old Town."

David Wren, (Con, Moredon), the cabinet member for local environment, is is the councillor responsible tackling graffiti in the town.

"It is a serious problem," he said. "For people over 18 the maximum penalty is 10 years in prison if more than £5,000 worth of damage is caused."

He added: "We do target hotspots around the town such as subways but this might be a localised problem and with a borough this size we do rely on people to call us to highlight if there is a problem. As long as the owner of the building signs a disclaimer we will remove the graffiti free of charge."

Coun Wren is now planning to set up a task group which will specifically look at graffiti tags, the symbols gangs spray.

It's a disgrace - I'm fed up with it'

KEN Wooley says vandals who are targeting his home are making his life a misery.

The 69-year-old says they have covered his garage and property in Stafford Street, pictured left, in graffiti 10 times since last April and has even videoed the people he thinks are responsible.

Mr Wooley, a property landlord, says the area has been plagued by graffiti for the last year and the area looks "a disgrace".

"I am absolutely sick of this graffiti," he said.

"There's a group of blokes in their 20s who hang around at the back of my house on a Friday and Saturday night and that's when it happens.

"They spray all different colours all over my garage in different symbols. I've been out and said to them not to do it because there's a park near here and it's not good for the little kids.

"I've even been out to video them to get evidence but they have their hoods up and have got scarves over their eyes so you can't see them anyway. All they do is shout at me and say I'm an old man and then the next day I go out and paint my garage door black again. Then they come back and it starts all over again.

"I've called 999 but nothing gets sorted and the council haven't done anything."

Mr Wooley says the council should organise a public meeting so something can be done.

"These yobs are making my life a misery," he said. "The whole area looks terrible. It's a disgrace and I'm fed up with it."