Car thieves rammed stolen vehicles into a £15,000 fence erected only weeks ago to keep joyriders and vandals out of a school.

Police and fire crews were called to the playing fields of Hertford County Junior School, in Lynchet Close, Moulsecoomb, Brighton, early yesterday after reports that a car was on fire.

Police found two stolen Vauxhall Cavalier cars had been used to repeatedly ram the fence round the school to gain access to the playing fields.

The thieves, who stole the cars on Wednesday night, drove round before smashing one of the cars into a fence post and setting it on fire.

The fence was put up in the middle of October by Brighton and Hove City Council and paid for by a Government security grant to prevent such acts of vandalism.

Council representatives have visited the school to assess the damage and children have been barred from using the field.

A council spokesman said: "The fence was put up through a scheme between crime prevention officers and the school.

"We are trying to get council officers and those from the education department and the school's head teacher together to try and work out what we can do now."

Superintendent Graham Cox, of Brighton Police, said: "Clearly, crashes like this could have much more serious consequences.

"People can be knocked down and killed by people who steal cars, and the police are appealing for witnesses in this case because there must have been a great deal of noise when the car hit the fence."

Anyone with information should call the police on 0845 6070999.