VANDALS in Cricklade may face the stocks if they continue their campaign of tagging on the town's walls.

The humiliating punishment was suggested by Coun Mike Hatton at a meeting of Cricklade Town Council.

The brainwave may have sent a chuckle around the room but fellow councillors agreed the idea would be effective.

Coun Hatton said: "As a consult to the Hundred and Borough Court Leet of Cricklade I believe we should bring back the stocks and they should be placed in front of the police station."

The vandals' recent spate of graffiti has prompted a furious backlash from town leaders.

Tags were sprayed over Cricklade Leisure Centre, the fire station and several houses on Bath Road.

Sgt Joy Mattis, of Cricklade police, is convinced the graffiti is being sprayed by youths from outside the town - most likely from Swindon.

She said: "I have no doubt that it is out-of-towners coming into Cricklade to do this.

""It's one of the most difficult things we have found ourselves dealing with in the time I have been here. It's something we are currently working on and I believe we will get to the bottom of it eventually."

The fire station in Bath Road was targeted in the latest wave of taggings.

Watch manager Neil Vigor said: "They tagged the front door of the station but I have had it removed now.

"There are some individuals about that seem to not want to give up on it.

"It's catching them that's the problem.

"When we have the Cricklade Bloomers trying to make the town look nice and this happens, it's very annoying."

The leisure centre has become notorious for attracting young taggers late at night with the weekend's graffiti the latest in a long line of vandalism.

Gary Walker, chairman of the Cricklade and District Community Association, which runs the leisure centre, said: "It is the worst we have had here in a long time.

"We had graffiti all round the building in about three or four places. They also did some damage on the work we have done on the garden."

Mr Walker is overseeing plans to install four CCTV cameras on the leisure centre building in a bid to put an end to the problem.

"We are about to get our third quote this week but we need to move fairly quickly so once we have got a quote we are happy with, we will start moving on it.

"It's causing damage that is as costly as the CCTV equipment."