A LETTER in our columns at the weekend brought home graphically the true cost of crime.

Jenny Brown wrote about how her husband's garage business -- Entune 2000 in Stoneclough Road, Kearsley -- had been set on fire over Christmas.

In spite of swift intervention by the fire brigade and the local pub landlord, this petty act of vandalism caused £5,000 worth of damage.

Apart from spoiling the family's festive season, Jenny reported in despair how hard her husband had worked to make the business a success "especially in such a competitive environment."

There are hundreds of people running small businesses in the Bolton, Bury and Leigh areas, often working long hours and sinking savings and dreams into them.

It takes one single act of mindless stupidity by someone who couldn't care less about anyone else to wreck all of it.

Jenny Brown's letter struck a real chord with me, as it probably did with other local folk.

The financial backbone of any community is its commerce, and few work conspiciously harder than small businessmen and women. Their efforts are not always recognised, though, because they are not part of a major union or a big conglomerate.

No final salary pensions for them, or expense account lunches or often any lunch hours at all.

Their status is not often considered in national reviews of taxes or financial benefits, and their problems are unseen when it comes to sweeping legislation.

Unfortunately, their very vulnerability is seen as fair game to the towering intellects who get their spurious kicks by damaging other people's property.

I just wish that "community service" meant a couple of shifts doing the back-breaking stuff to restore a wrecked small business to pre-vandalism days.

Perhaps then there would be fewer repeat offences, and the business people who run small companies might just have their faith in authority restored.