A mum has said she has resorted to using her laundry drying rack as a makeshift intruder alarm as groups of youths 'taking drugs' are descending on a housing estate after school.
Veronica Williams says she pushes the clothes horse against the door to alert her if someone breaks in.
Noisy teens are reportedly gathering on the Hodge Hill retirement complex in Birmingham every evening with residents struggling with 'boy racers, drug dealing and prostitution' in the nearby Tesco car park - in which a young man was attacked with acid and stabbed only last week.
Citing the 'targeted' knife attack on the 23-year-old, Veronica sarcastically told Birmingham Live: "Yes, it's great living round here."
She added: "My daughter lives in Shard End, I know it's not the brightest place you could be in, but at least she is near me.
"I don't step outside the door, I keep myself to myself."
She described double locking her doors, using the door chain and pushing the clothes horse against the door as a first defence if someone did get in.
"All my life since we were kids, you could open your door to anybody, now you come in here, you lock the door.
"I always put something against it, I've got a chain on it as well. I put my washing by the door, and something at the back.
"You'd soon know somebody had got in then."
Prostitution and drug dealing - which had spilled into their estate over recent years - have eased since the Mirror's sister news site Birmingham Live campaigned for Tesco to shut the barriers at night.
But residents say they are still troubled by 'noisy, drug-taking' groups of youths 'every day' after school until around 11pm - problems many across the city struggle with.
"There's cars shooting up and down, racing, all the while. My neighbour was telling me they were fighting over the drugs.
"I can't see why we can't get more police on the streets. I would like to see one police officer walking around the area. They are always in cars."
She says people steal "parts off cars and take the engines" in the area too.
Michael Finch, a resident of 12 years, spoke of the youths smoking cannabis and inhaling laughing gas, with silver gas cannisters left as evidence.
On the acid attack, he said: "I heard about that. It's going on all over the place.
"They take drugs, you find those little gas cylinders for laughing gas. It's obviously every day. It's after school until late...around10-11pm.
"A friend at the top says he can hear it, he can smell it. I have seen them climbing up the fence, knocking on their doors and then they come down."
"I'm quite lucky," adding: "One of the guys up there tells them to 'buzz off' sort-of-thing.
"They most often just go because he's behind a glass door. People up there get it a lot more than up here."
Outside his home, he sees the youths "running down" or riding mopeds along the pedestrian pathway, he says.
He describes the problems, which have been ongoing for years, as "continuous", with yobs previously using their washing area as a "toilet".
Though some youths "get into mischief", he admits others are "decent", and can be "helpful" if they see the elderly residents struggling, for example.
Michael claims he very rarely sees police around and would like to see "regular visits at regular times."
West Midlands Police recently announced a major move to a localised policing model, with hopes to tackle community issues.
Though officer numbers are still down by up to 1,000 from the 2010 cuts, it is hoped the recent addition of 450 police officers in the community will help "keep people safe".
Announcing the news at the start of April, Chief Constable Craig Guildford said: "As a chief constable who has recently arrived, I've taken quite a long time in looking at where we've come from, and where we've got to and I've got three clear strategic aims.
"The first one is delivering a service that works for local people, the second is to retain and engage communities and the third is to be a local employer of choice."
