Gang making "our lives hell" (From Borehamwood Times)

Gang making "our lives hell"

10:43am Thursday 21st November 2002 in News By Charles Whitney

Drunken teenage gangs are making life unbearable for people living in Eldon Avenue, Borehamwood, who say the police are not doing enough to help.

Every Friday night groups of up to 50 teenagers gather outside the McDonalds restaurant at the end of Eldon Avenue, and cause havoc.

One parent, who did not want to be named, said: "On Friday night it all came to a head.

"There were a lot of kids riding around on motorbikes with no helmets on, causing a racket. I called the police but they never turned up, so I dispersed them myself."

On Saturday morning residents woke to find the tyres had been slashed on seven cars parked in the road.

The preceding weekend vandals had sprayed paint on several cars in the road, and motorists often find wing mirrors or aerials ripped off their cars.

"Its Hell here. This has been going on and on and on, and it is going to get to a point where we have to take the law into our own hands," said one resident.

Another resident said some of his neighbours were thinking about moving away, as they could no longer put up with the gangs.

A 71-year-old man said the noise on Friday nights was unbearable, and added: "There is no quality of life here at all."

Police were unable to attend the disturbance in Eldon Avenue on Friday night because they were already overstretched, dealing with teenage troublemakers at The Point in Shenley Road and a domestic disturbance in Borehamwood.

PC Sue Taylor, the ward constable for the area, said: "People still need to ring up and report these matters, as the community team will follow them up."

A spokeswoman said the police believed there was: "A core group of individuals which is responsible for much of the anti-social behaviour in the Shenley Road and Eldon Avenue area.

"We will take, and have taken, appropriate action including prosecutions where we have the evidence to support it."