POLICE are hunting thieves who are targeting a caravan firm.

There have been more than 40 incidents of break-ins and criminal damage to caravans at Barrons Caravans, at Burtree Gate, Darlington.

Until a month ago, detectives had reports of 16 incidents at the showroom, but in the past four weeks, there have been 27 reports of similar incidents.

The dealership recently announced a £1.5m investment to double its showroom size.

Officers investigating the thefts said they were concerned about the level of security at the business.

A police spokeswoman said: "The police have got concerns about security there and a crime prevention officer is due to visit the premises to give advice on how things could be improved."

Customer David Barron (no relation) had his caravan broken into on Wednesday evening when he left it at the dealership overnight to be repaired.

He said: "When I went to collect it on Thursday morning, I found it had been broken into. There were 27 caravans broken into the same night.

"The CD player was ripped out of the wall.

"The whole caravan was ransacked, they have obviously had enough time to search through all the caravans.

"Barrons do not seem interested in putting in extra security. There was no warning that the place was not safe."

Nobody from Barrons Caravans was available for comment yesterday.