CRIME is costing Swindon businesses hundreds of thousands of pounds a year, according to Zurich Financial Services.

The insurance giant, which employs almost 3,000 people in Swindon, has released details of the cost of crime to companies.

In data for the southern region, which includes Swindon, more than one in ten firms (12 per cent) have been broken into in the last three years, and slightly fewer (nine per cent) have been the victim of shoplifting.

Eleven per cent have been on the receiving end of vandalism.

On average light industry has had to pay out £3,200, while shopowners had shelled out £2,600 and office managers said their bills for repairing and dealing with crime came in at just over £1,000.

David Nicholls, small business manager for Zurich's UK commercial business said: "Crime is currently high on the political agenda and our research reveals that there is no doubt that shopowners and small businesses in general are finding times difficult.

"Our own claims, trends and research show that they are very vulnerable to theft and malicious damage and we are urging them to seek advice from either their local police crime prevention team or their insurance adviser or broker on what they can do to combat crime."

The total cost to the southern region is more than £920 million in the last three years, and 300,000 businesses have been targeted.

And the more isolated the area, the higher the bill. On average, firms outside towns and cities said crime had cost them nearly £4,000 over the past three years, a third more than the national average. Certain commonsense rules prevailed, that companies in badly-lit areas fared worse, but it has also been revealed that being near a football pitch, school or park also makes businesses more vulnerable to break-ins.

On the flipside, businesses near pubs experienced the lowest rate of break-ins but the highest incidence of vandalism with nearly two in ten (16 per cent) saying their premises had been vandalised over the last 12 months.

Theft is the biggest problem for businesses near schools and parks. One in 20 said they'd had equipment and merchandise stolen over the past year.

Zurich advises customers to install obvious security measures like window bars or grilles, and structuring stock displays so that the more valuable an item, the harder it is to get to.