A GANG of 40 teenagers is travelling across Blackburn to terrorise a quiet neighbourhood after a police clampdown in their own high-crime communities.

The children, aged between 12 and 14, are travelling from Griffin, Highercroft, Mill Hill and Shadsworth in Blackburn to get drunk and cause trouble in Lammack.

Police said that the area was normally one of the quietest in Blackburn but had "stuck out like a sore thumb" in recent weeks because of the trouble.

Residents said the gang had left them scared to leave their homes and suggested that the teenagers were the reason so many houses in the area had recently been put up for sale.

It is not know why the teenagers have suddenly picked on Lammack, but officers described it as a "nice, decent" area which they might have thought was away from the eye of the law.

The gang has been meeting up at Lammack Primary School, Lammack Road at around 7pm at weekends. In the past fortnight 200 roof tiles have been ripped off the school, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

Youths have also been congregating around the shops in Columbia Way until as late as 2am.

In addition, police said there had been a number of thefts from houses which they believed were connected to the gang.

A 42-year-old mother of two, who lives in Columbia Way said: "They are intimidating all of the local people. And it is not a coincidence that there are so many houses for sale on this street.

"They urinate up the walls at the shops and make noise until all hours.

"And in the morning the mess is terrible. There are bottles everywhere. I would like to know where someone as young as 14 is getting alcohol from."

Another resident, a 68-year-old lady who lives alone, said: "I feel scared because I'm on my own. I don't use those shops anymore.

"At night time there are so many of them that I cannot bare to walk past."

A 33-year-old male neighbour said: "Even men don't want to approach these youngsters and ask them to move on."

Police Constable Duncan Park, community beat manager for Lammack for the past two years, said: "It is a fairly quite and decent area and what seems to have happened is that the problem has been displaced from other areas we targeted.

"People in that area should make sure their doors are locked because there maybe a number of thefts from the kids trying front doors.

"We will be doing a high visibility patrols and confiscating alcohol from the children."

Sergeant Jason Middleton added: "It is seen as one of the quietest areas of Blackburn for anti-social behaviour but over the past few weeks it has stuck out like a sore thumb because it is a good area."

Head at Lammack Primary School, Mary Lewis, where youths damaged roof tiles, said: "We need to work together as a community to stop this. As a head teacher I would urge all parents to be aware of what their teenage children are up to. I'm sure many would be horrified."

o Residents wishing to discuss the problems should go to the Police And Community Together (PACT) meeting on January 3 from 6pm at Lammack Methodist Church.