A CENTRE for the disabled is calling on its neighbours to help beat the vandals that plague it.

Stanley Day Centre, in Wear Road, Stanley, was covered in chalk graffiti, on Monday night, the latest in a spate of incidents.

Although the graffiti, most of it three girls' names, has caused no lasting damage, staff at the centre are fed up.

In the past two years it has suffered from teenagers congregating and drinking in its grounds, broken windows, damage to access ramp handrails and painted graffiti.

The centre, run by Durham County Council for physically disabled people in the area, is next to the boarded-up Hustledown House which is a former old people's home.

There are plans to install closed-circuit television cameras in the hope of deterring the culprits.

A spokeswoman for the centre urged people living nearby to keep an eye on the building.

"If people see something it would be helpful if they rang the police," she said.

A Durham Police spokesman said officers went to the centre when the graffiti was reported, but were not treating it as criminal damage because chalk is not permanent.

"There have been other instances and there have been daubings in the past that have been treated as criminal damage," he said.

"We are aware of what is happening and we are watching the situation."

The graffiti is expected to be cleaned off during the next week.