TYRE-SLASHING vandals have forced a Brighouse businesswoman to shut up shop.

Elaine Wilkinson has become so fed up of forking out to replace the £200-a-time tyres on her BMW X5 she is quitting popular furniture and lighting shop Design 55.

It follows a string of attacks on the car, parked outside the Bethel Street store, in the last six months.

The latest happened last Wednesday.

Mrs Wilkinson said: “I drove up to the shop to load the car up, got out, put everything in and went back to shut the shutters.

“When I got back the tyres had been stabbed again. I must have been out of sight of the car for no more than three minutes.

“I just can’t be doing with it any more.”

She reported the first incident to police in September, but said she had not reported similar incidents in December and last week because she did not think anything could be done about it.

She said: “I feel vulnerable, like someone might be watching me or that they might snatch my bag.

“I have no idea who might be doing it, or why. I’d like to know if anyone else has had any similar problems.”

She said she was sad to be leaving Bethel Street after three years, but would be running her shop online from a location in Liversedge.

“A lot of my customers will be really upset to see the shop go,” she said.