A BARNTON woman wants parents to take more responsibility for their children.

The woman, who does not wish to be identified for fear of reprisals, said: "They seem to enjoy hanging around alleys and pathways, fighting, knocking over wheelie bins, trampling over front gardens.

"They are upsetting a lot of the local residents, a lot of whom are elderley and scared.

"These problems have become more frequent over the last couple of months."

Her comments follow two incidents in which gangs of youths aged between 13 and 14 ran amok on the Lock Estate in Barnton.

Last week there was further trouble.

The resident said: "The same group were generally causing a nuisance, fighting and they caused damage to a car and front garden."

Police were called, found the group and had stern words with them.

An officer called the resident to say the problem should be solved and had asked them to move on.

The resident added: "Hopefully, they do. Apparently, these groups were moved on from Kingsmead as they caused so much trouble and have moved into Barnton.

"I just want to make the point to parents. Do they know what their teenagers are doing at night?"

Diana Wiggins, the police community support officer in Barnton, said: "We have already had two parents in to discuss the behaviour on the Lock Estate.

"We are starting to put names to the troublemakers."

She addeed: "Things have now quietened down."