Pensioners have appealed for help to rid their estate of yobs who are making their lives a misery.

Residents of Shipley's Wycliffe Gardens have asked Bradford Council to install security doors at their flats in Saltaire Road after drunken youths and drug users left them too scared to step outside.

Wycliffe Gardens resident Lillian Moorhouse said: "Residents in Wycliffe Gardens are living in fear of intimidation and are being preyed upon by young people, who feel they have a justified right to attack, offend, upset, and steal from older people.

"In this day and age, the very least we should offer the older members of our community is safety and quiet enjoyment in their own homes.

"However, there are elements in our society who will not let us do this.

"Imagine how it feels when you open your front door to find strangers lurking in the hallway, attempting to gain access to your home.

"Our communal areas have become attractive to local drug users and drunks who lurk in corridors and expose us to their bad habits. The flats have become targets to thieves, villains and substance abusers."

Mrs Moorhouse said that there have been 17 incidents of crime on the estate in the last six months including five sneak-in burglaries.

She said: "Unfortunately, the design of the flats allows an opportunist thief to enter your home without your knowledge when you have just gone to put out the refuse."

The calls has been backed by Marie Osborne, secretary of the Wycliffe Association of Tenants and Residents (WATAR), who said that although 56 of the flats on the estate had security doors fitted, another 80 were still vulnerable and urgently needed action.

The residents have received a letter from Shipley police backing their appeal saying that security doors would go a long way to combating the area's crime problems.

The campaign has also been backed by Councillor Phil Thornton (Lab, Shipley East) who said the council needed to urgently address the problem.

He said: "We have a rising problem with burglaries and drug use in the area. The council should be looking to provide security doors for the residents so they can feel safe in their own homes.

"The reality is that the council is strapped for cash and the money has been committed elsewhere but the work still needs doing. It's completely unacceptable that elderly people should have to face problems like this."

Members of WATAR presented their case to a full meeting of Bradford Council and it has now been referred to the council's executive committee for consideration.

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