Farmers are "living in fear" of gangs of burglars who are travelling across the region to raid remote country premises, it has been claimed.

Thieves have broken into several rural properties in the villages just south of Northallerton, North Yorkshire, stealing thousands of pounds worth of farming equipment and machinery over the last two months.

And police are now planning to join forces with the farming community to combat the growing problem.

Detectives say organised gangs are coming down to North Yorkshire from Darlington and other areas of County Durham to carry out the raids.

One farmer, who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals, said: "There just seems to have been an absolute spate of robberies taking place at these farms.

"They are taking quad bikes and all the farmers are getting back in return is a criminal number to claim from the insurance."

He said premises in Great Smeaton, Hornby, Streetlam, Danby Wiske and the Cowtons had been targeted lately.

"People are just living in fear. It doesn't matter what sort of lock you have, they can just burn it off and it's happening that much that it's out of control," he added.

A spokesman for Northallerton police said rural residents should not be living in fear, although the problem was increasing.

"We are having quite a number of farm burglaries in this area," he said. "Over the last couple of months they have certainly been hitting them, mainly quad bikes and other heavy-duty sort of equipment.

"They have been taking vehicles away and we have recently found two abandoned on the outskirts of Darlington."

A meeting between local police and farmers is likely to take place in the near future to establish ways the two groups can work together to beat the thieves.