Joyriders are turning a Bradford estate into a scene from a war zone, outraged residents and councillors claimed today.

In the past three weeks firefighters from Fairweather Green station have been called out nine times to deal with stolen cars which have been driven on to Saffron Drive, Allerton, set alight and dumped.

And councillors are also calling for something to be done about a mound of earth which was put on grassland near Saffron Drive by Bradford Council 18 months ago to deter joyriders and illegal gipsy encampments which they argue is only acting as a target for yobs.

Barbara Binns, 60, whose former council home is directly in front of the earth pile, said she had seen seven cars on fire on the estate in the past week.

"At the moment it looks like one of those riot scenes from Ireland or somewhere like the West Bank.

"It really is horrendous. My grandchildren come round to my house and it absolutely petrifies me when they play outside. Only the other day a car was on fire when they were round.

"I've lived here for 30 years and it used to be a really nice estate but it has gone downhill."

Mrs Binns, who lives with builder husband Terence, said there were gaps in-between the piles of earth that joyriders were using to access the area on top of the mounds.

Councillor John Buffham (Lab, Thornton) said joyriders were being attracted to the area because of the mound of earth which he described as an "eyesore".

"Something needs to be done to prevent these cars from going on there," he said. "For me the area needs to be totally tidied up by planting seeds on the mound and it needs to be made higher to stop these cars getting over the top of it.

"The other alternative is to remove the mound and put up concrete pillars which would stop the cars driving around on the grass. The whole situation is appalling and it needs action from the police and other agencies to catch the culprits."

Councillor Clive Richardson (Cons, Thornton) said people shouldn't have to suffer in this way. We need to catch the people who are doing this because at the moment the conditions people are having to live in is an absolute disgrace," he said.

A Bradford Council spokesman said: "We have advised local residents that work on these mounds will take place within the next ten days.

"Our Landscape Services department will re-seed the mounds to improve their stability and the pathway will be made too narrow for vehicles to use."

A police spokesman confirmed officers had been called to a small number of car fires in the Allerton area since the beginning of April. "Last week we carried out a day of action in the Allerton area to tackle criminal behaviour. Officers dealt with a number of traffic offences during their high visibility patrols."

Anyone with any information about the joyriders or fires is asked to contact Bradford North Police on (01274) 376059.