Car vandals have caused £50,000 worth of damage in a 48-hour crime spree in Brighton.

In all, 60 vehicles have been destroyed or wrecked in the town since Sunday night.

Gangs cruising the streets with either an air rifle or a sharp instrument have smashed the windows of 50 cars.

Another seven vehicles have been torched, two were dumped in a flooded underpass in Lewes Road and a third was pushed down the hill at Ditchling Beacon.

Last night the windows were smashed on 15 cars parked in Colbourne Avenue, Moulsecoomb and three more in Bevendean.

It followed an attack on Sunday when all 32 cars parked on one side of Ditchling Rise had their passenger windows shattered.

Sussex Police have pledged to step up patrols in a bid to catch the culprits.

One angry victim today offered a £500 reward to find the person responsible for the damage to his vehicle.

Gardener John Suttle, 61, of Bevendean, put up posters on lamp posts offering a reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the offenders who smashed three windows on his Nissan Silvia.

He said: "Nothing was stolen from my car. This is just wanton vandalism. I think Brighton is a rotten, criminal little town."

Police say the vandalism in Colbourne Road may be linked to attacks on cars and buses at the junction of Coldean Lane and Lewes Road, where major road works are in progress.

Youths armed with lumps of Tarmac from the site have been ambushing vehicles, smashing windows and attacking anyone who comes after them.

Police are still not sure what is being used to smash the windows but John Grace, owner of Sussex Windscreens in Wordsworth Street, Hove, found an air rifle pellet in one of the damaged cars in Ditchling Rise.

He said: "Unfortunately it seems to be quite popular among kids to smash car windows at the moment. We had a similar spree in Shirley Street, Hove, last week when eight or nine cars were damaged."

Mike Linsted, of Ditchling Rise, had the windows of his Citroen smashed.

He said: "We have the odd problem round here because the road is a popular route out of the town centre. But it is usually just a windscreen wiper being snapped off or rubbish being dumped. We have not seen anything like this before. The whole of the left side of the street was hit."

Fellow resident Hamed Noor, 20, has been given an estimate of £150 to repair the windows of his Renault.

He said:"I would really like to find the person who did this to me. I am a student, I can't afford to pay to have this fixed."

Firefighters have dealt with another seven vehicles wrecked at locations around Brighton including Preston Park Avenue, West Drive, Stanmer Park, Sussex Place and Sutherland Road.

In one attack, in the underground car park of flats in Howard Place on Sunday night, a car's petrol tank exploded and smoke penetrated some of the flats.

The occupants had to be evacuated from their homes while firefighters tackled the blaze.

Anyone with information about any of the attacks should call Brighton police on 0845 6070999.