Yobs cost firms £1.3 each year (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)

Yobs cost firms £1.3 each year

YOB behaviour is costing businesses more than £1.3bn a year.

A new survey suggests clearing up vomit and urine, repairing smashed shop windows, erasing graffiti and sweeping up broken bottles and litter from streets cost each firm affected an average of £2,300 last year.

High Street shops are worst hit, according to Royal and Sun Alliance.

Larger businesses are even more vulnerable.

Those employing 50 to 99 people are experiencing the highest levels of yob behaviour about 59 per cent while two per cent of businesses surveyed, an estimated 10,000 companies, are contemplating closing down altogether.

Brendan McManus, the commercial director at R&SA, said: "It is worth remembering that not everything can be covered by insurance, while some damage is simply not worth claiming for, such as petty theft or broken windows.

"It is both shocking and sad so many businesses are blighted by growing yob culture to the point that some are even thinking about closing altogether."