TRAVEL agents in the Teesside area have joined up with police to remind people not to advertise the fact they are on holiday, on social media.

The agents are helping to spread the message that sharing updates about holidays on Facebook or other social media invites burglars to break in.

A survey carried out by Cleveland Police last summer found that 58 per cent of people questioned posted status updates or photographs of themselves out of their house, and 59 per cent said they did not know everyone who had access to their profile.

Alarmingly, 38 per cent of those that were surveyed said that they had been a victim of burglary. But 18 per cent of these said they would still be likely or highly likely to post on social media about when they are out of the house.

Branches of Dawson & Sanderson, Thomas Cook and Thomson across Cleveland are getting involved in distributing crime prevention postcards to their customers to raise awareness of the dangers of posting on social media when they are going away on holiday.