'SEAFRONT BIKE BOYS DAMAGE COSTING £1,000S'

He said: "They come down here at night and use the walls and kerbs to perform stunts on and don't seem to care about the damage they are doing."

On Friday he arrived at work to find about six heavy paving stones smashed. Other walls have been chipped and cracked as a result of the bikers grinding against them.

Mr Smith fears for the safety of his customers and doesn't want to see the lower colonnade suffer any more damage.

He has CCTV footage of the vandals at work but says he's been disappointed by the reaction from the police and Rother District Council, which owns the property.

Mr Smith added: "They don't seem interested. I've reported five or six separate incidents since April and haven't had as much as a phone call back, let alone a visit. The vandals know they can do what they want because there is next to no police presence around here at night. And it is happening virtually every night."

Cafe manager Peter McLaughlin said: "Most mornings it's a real state here and we spend an hour cleaning up before we can start serving. We know who's doing it and we've got names. We've confronted them personally but we can't be here night and day. They just say, 'we'll come back when you've gone home'.

"And it's not just here, they've been causing problems the length of the seafront. I thought they had their BMX facility now up at the Down. Why do they carry on destroying public property?"

Inspector Max Mosley said: "If they have CCTV evidence of the offence taking place which clearly identifies the offenders then we would be very interested to see it.

"The trouble with CCTV evidence is that it is often inconclusive.

"It may be that the owners of the property need to investigate a way of fencing off the area at night so it doesn't happen.

"The walls and kerbs can also be fitted with attractive studs to discourage bikers and skaters from using them for grinding.

"We hope when the new skate park is fully up and running that bikers and skaters will use the purpose-built facilities.

"We must stress that most BMXers do not intend to cause any harm and most of it is the work of a few rotten apples. We need members of the public to be vigilant and report things when they happen. If someone calls 999 and tells us something is happening as we speak we will turn out."