YOUR articles about anti-social behaviour in York's Newgate Market (September 11) highlighted some of the problems facing the council's market management.

Such mindless vandalism has cost the local authority - and York's council tax payers - thousands of pounds in stall repairs, plus days of frustration for the traders waiting for those repairs.

The "incidents", usually occurring during the early evening by gangs of youths, are reported to the local police, but catching someone in the act seems to be the stumbling block for prosecutions.

We have tried a number of different approaches to solve the problem. Earlier this year we engaged evening security staff to patrol the market, but with such a large area to cover, the project achieved only limited success.

We appreciate this is a frustrating problem for all concerned. Anti-social behaviour is unacceptable and we will continue to work closely with the police, Safer York Partnership, traders and the community support officers to tackle the problem.

Paul Barrett,

Markets and city centre manager,

Newgate Market, York.

Updated: 09:23 Saturday, September 20, 2003