Residents in an area of Wishaw fear it’s only a matter of time before a child is killed by masked youths recklessly riding quads and motorbikes.
The louts have been tearing up a local park and terrorising residents living nearby by riding the uninsured vehicles on roads and pavements .
Police in Wishaw have previously seized a number of off-road vehicles but this doesn’t seem to have deterred masked yobs in Pather who are making people’s lives there a misery.
One resident who asked not to be named for fear of reprisals told Lanarkshire Live that a gang of masked youths have “totally destroyed Pather Park" and are blighting surrounding areas, adding: “They wheelie up and down the street and have no way of controlling these machines in the event of a child stepping out. They aren’t road legal.”
The resident says their mother, an elderly pensioner, is now terrified to go out and walk her dog, and also claims families are selling their houses as their lives have been “made an absolute misery” by the antisocial “neds” riding the quads and bikes.
North Lanarkshire Council purchased two off-road motorbikes in 2019, which are used by the police to tackle the growing number of issues caused by people riding quad-bikes. Trained officers use the bikes to patrol known hot-spot areas throughout North Lanarkshire addressing the levels of antisocial behaviour caused by the illegal use of quad-bikes on public roads, footpaths and fields.
Police in Wishaw say they are aware of the issue in the Pather area and elsewhere in the town and are urging residents to report incidents to them.
Sergeant Stuart Murray of Wishaw’s Community Police unit, said: “We are aware of issues regarding the use of off-road vehicles in the Pather area of Wishaw, the use of non-road registered vehicles in such circumstances is a criminal offence and offenders identified will be dealt with accordingly.
“We have recently seized several vehicles caught operating in this fashion within the Wishaw area and officers will continue to pay attention to this area in order to prevent such behaviour. I would like to encourage local residents to report any incident of this type via 101 or 999 in an emergency.”
Anyone with information about those using off road bikes or quads on public land can also contact Crimestoppers-uk.org online or by phoning 0800 555 111, which can be done completely anonymously.
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