A BESIEGED shop owner is calling for council chiefs to fix a CCTV camera near his store after suffering his 11th break-in this year.

Barry Hanby, 75, suffered a second raid this year on his Bridge Street Newsagents, in Tadcaster, on Tuesday night when thieves made off with up to £2,000 worth of cigarettes.

Now he is calling for Selby District Council officers to reinstall a camera that overlooks his shop and was removed in September.

Mr Hanby, who owns four shops in the town and two more in nearby Boston Spa, said he is fed-up of clearing up after thieves.

In February, the grandfather told The Press how he almost quit after thieves struck his premises seven times in a month. Now he claims police are being hampered by the broken camera.

He said: "We need the cameras back urgently. We might have a chance of catching them then. I keep getting fobbed off, and in the meantime I am getting constantly broken into and nothing is being done."

The thieves struck at about 11.45pm on Tuesday and entered the shop by smashing one of its large glass windows on the street.

He said a working CCTV camera on Bridge Street would help police catch the raiders, saying: "It would make a massive difference because the police say they do not know what vehicle they are looking for after the raid. If they know that it would give them a chance to catch them.

"It makes me furious, especially when you are stuck there half the night clearing up because it makes such an awful mess. It is very distressing."

The pensioner has been featured in the Evening Press at least six times after numerous raids on his stores over the past 20 years.

Tim Grogan, district council licensing officer, said the camera had broken down in September but was being upgraded and would be reinstalled alongside a revamp of the town's street lighting.

He said: "Unfortunately it can't go in until the other street lights have been done as well.

"I am hoping that it is going to be done within the next four weeks."