PARTS of the North-East are hotspots for homophobic hate crime, a charity has said.

Gay Advice Darlington, (Gad) which covers the south of County Durham has examined the results of a survey of the gay, lesbian and transexual community and found that levels of verbal and physical abuse in the area were higher than the national average.

After a spate of attacks on gay people in Darlington and the surrounding area, the charity - with the help of the town's community safety partnership - has distributed 150 personal attack alarms.

Most of the violent attacks involve a gang attacking a person on their own, property being damaged, or verbal abuse in the streets.

But Gad says the victims often do not report hate attacks due to fear of reprisals.

Barry Birch, community development manager at Gad, said: "We tend to find that very often the smaller a community is, for example a village, the discrimination can be worse, which is why a lot of gay people gravitate towards cities.

"If you look at smaller communities there tends to be a tyranny of uniformity.

"If you don't fit, you become a target.

"In the North-East there is a very masculine, macho attitude. It is a lot more difficult for gay people to be open. They're suffering in silence."

A survey, carried out by Government-funded Sigma, found that in Darlington more than half of the gay community had experienced verbal discrimination from strangers, which is double the national average.

And nearly one in ten gays in Darlington had suffered physical abuse by homophobes, again above the national average of one in fourteen.

Mr Birch said Wales and Scotland, as well as the North-East, were hotspots for these sort of hate crimes, because of the large number of small communities in the areas.

He said Gad had "tremendous" support from the police, Crown Prosecution Service, and Darlington Borough Council.

Mr Birch wants more people in the gay community to report hate crime against them, including verbal abuse.

He said: "If anyone feels uncomfortable about going to the police, they can come to us here and we can arrange for them to report an incident anonymously if they want to."

Gad also offers counselling and advice for victims of hate crime.

The Gad helpline is (01325) 247355