A Wallingford man whose garage and car was vandalised is furious at confusion over whether a nearby CCTV camera was working or not.

About £2,000 worth of damage was caused when half a dozen teenagers attacked retired chartered surveyor Bernard Stone's property in High Street at the weekend.

Police officers turned up but told Mr Stone the nearby camera wasn't working, so there would not be any footage of the vandals.

But yesterday, South Oxfordshire District Council maintained it WAS working.

Mr Stone said: "It is scandalous that these things have been paid for with public money but then are not operating to help police with incidents like the one at my home.

"If there are images on the tape then they should be got off immediately and used to identify these people."

Mr Stone was woken up by the gang outside his home in the early hours of Saturday morning.

He heard the oak door being broken and called police. A patrol car was there within minutes, but the youths had fled.

Mr Stone said: "The police reaction when I said about the camera was a shrug of the shoulders and they told me it wasn't working.

"These cameras are there for precisely this sort of reason, but it seems even the yobs know when they're not working."

When the youths smashed the door they broke into the garage and the damaged his Ford Fiesta Ghia.

Mr Stone said: "If these cameras are not working it is a total waste of taxpayers' money."

The district council said only one of the 16-camera network was currently not working because it was struck by lightning and confirmed that the images from cameras were good enough to be produced as evidence in court.

Police would not comment to clear up the confusion.

District council cabinet member Pat Dawe said: "The camera system has been effective."