A NEW advice leaflet has been released which aims at helping Worcester businesses tackle graffiti following a significant arrest last month.

The leaflet has been jointly produced by Worcester City Council, West Mercia Police and the Duckworth Worcestershire Trust.

It includes advice on how to prevent graffiti at business premises and what steps to take if it does happen and follows on from the arrest of a teenager in Bristol who is believed to be responsible for some of the tags appearing across the city.

Advice in the leaflet includes using fences, gates, locks and planting to make it harder for graffiti vandals to get access to a building; keeping a property neat and clean to discourage vandals; and to use protective coatings to stop graffiti being sprayed on.

The leaflet advises that if a building does become the target of graffiti, the crime is reported to the police. Pictures of the graffiti should be taken.

The leaflet also gives tips on how to quickly clean or cover the graffiti.

Councillor Lynn Denham, vice chairman of Worcester City Council’s communities committee, said: “When graffiti vandalism happens at public buildings we can go straight in and remove it, but we don’t have those powers over private property. This leaflet is a great way of helping city businesses to tackle this sort of crime.”

PC Richard Foxall of West Mercia Police said: “Businesses often don’t realise graffiti on their property is a crime, but we want to encourage them to report it when it happens and take steps to stop it happening in the first place.”

Roisin Hanks, Project Manager, Duckworth Worcestershire Trust, said: “Graffiti is vandalism and it can make attractive buildings appear very ugly. We’re very pleased to be supporting this initiative aimed at reducing this crime in Worcester.”

We have previously reported how Worcester was hit by a spate of graffiti.

In a measure of how seriously police take graffiti they last month travelled to Bristol to arrest a suspect.

Hundreds of tags appeared across Worcester including the Shambles, New Street, Broad Street, Sansome Walk, Pheasant Street, Lowesmoor, City Walls Road, Shaw Street and Farrier Street.

Vandals even left their mark on the old job centre at 214 Battery (Royal Artillery) at Dancox House in Pheasant Street last December.

But an officer involved in the investigation said hard work had led them to identify an address in Bristol where an 18-year-old man was arrested.