A young mother has told how she watched a gang of men reversing and crashing cars into each other on a sports ground car park.

The woman is certain she also heard the sound of repeated shots being fired at the Marley Stadium car park, near the Aire Valley Trunk Road, Keighley, in the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The woman, who has two children aged seven and four, and lives in Thwaites, does not want to be named.

She say: "As soon as I went to bed I heard two loud bangs.

"I ran downstairs to see what was happening. There were five or six cars reversing really quickly out of the Marley stadium car park and crashing into each other.

"As they were smashing into each other there were I think about 10 or 15 more bangs. I'm convinced they were gun shots," she says.

The terrified woman says as she called the police the cars sped away and a large number of people ran down nearby Aireworth Road.

She says one car drove up Thwaites Brow with no tyres on its wheels.

Another neighbour confirmed the Marley stadium car park is a common meeting place for young men to meet in their cars and race.

He says he frequently sees cars being raced round the cars and young men doing wheel spins in their cars.

The woman says police told her neighbour no evidence had been found to suggest guns were used.

But she adds: "The police were up here all yesterday morning. The forensics officer told my neighbour they had found evidence of guns."

Keighley police confirm they were called to the car park at around 2.30am on the Wednesday morning. DCI Gary Baker says when the officers arrived there was no one there.

DCI Baker adds he has heard claims of guns shots being fired in the car park and of a large gathering of cars. He says police are looking into the matter very seriously and following up a number of lines of enquiry.

He says the discovery of three seriously damaged cars in Keighley on Wednesday is being linked with the Marley stadium disturbance.

Three men were arrested on Wednesday and released on police bail.

Police add that no evidence has been found to suggest firearms were involved.

A spokesman for Bradford council said: "The first staff knew of any activity involving Police was when they arrived for work on Wednesday morning and found the car park and adjacent allotments cordoned off."

Anyone with any information surrounding the abandoned cars or the incident at Marley should call Keighley CID on 01535 617085.

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