A WYRE Forest veterans' association and retailers are joining forces to combat "despicable" thieves who target charity collection boxes.

The Royal British Legion's Kidderminster branch and a business group are warning other shop owners to keep an eye on poppy collection boxes in the run-up to Remembrance Sunday.

Last year eight of the boxes were taken from Wyre Forest shops, costing the veterans' group more than £200.

Tony Hinton, Poppy Appeal organiser and branch secretary, said: "We lost eight boxes last year. How low can you stoop? These people who do these despicable things should be very grateful for what they have today.

"I can't say any more. It absolutely stinks.

"We didn't recover any of the money. It's £200 which the British Legion's central funding cannot spend.

"The more money we get every year, the more beneficial it is for people and, in particular, the lads coming back, bent and broken, from Afghanistan and Iraq at the moment."

The British Legion branch, which raised £16,000 in 2006, has joined up with the Kidderminster Retail Initiative and Security Partnership - KRISP - to raise awareness and try to prevent box thefts.

Helen Dyke, KRISP chairman, said: "We are really going for this issue because we had eight taken last year, some in the town centre. It's a sad thing really. I've worked in shops and you put the collection boxes by the till front and forget they are there.

"We want to make people aware. We're advising shop staff to put the boxes in view of the internal CCTV cameras."

Mr Hinton, who is dropping off hundreds of the boxes around the district, has been advising store owners and managers to take several common sense steps to help reduce the risk of thefts, which includes securing the boxes to permanent fixings.

The 70-plus members of KRISP each have walkie-talkies which can be used to monitor any incidents in the town and can be used to call in town centre police officers if a theft takes place.

Dylan Evans, police spokesman, said: "We're aware there have been incidents prior to this year and we will be liaising with traders to offer advice and also looking to alarm the boxes.

"We can fix lanyard devices to the boxes which emit a high-pitched noise when detached."