A TEENAGER has been barred from entering areas of a council estate where he lives.

Middlesbrough Council applied to Teesside Magistrates' Court for an interim anti-social behaviour order against the 17-year-old trouble-maker.

The legal move followed gang mayhem on the Pallister Park estate, Middlesbrough, which has included arson attacks on a community centre, graffiti spraying, attacks on pizza delivery drivers and stolen motorbikes being raced across the estate at night.

Afterwards, Councillor Barry Coppinger, executive member for public protection issues, thanked residents whose evidence led to the successful court application.

He said: "We must thank local residents, our street wardens and the police for collecting a mass of evidence. Their help and vigilance has helped us to get this result.

"The interim order prohibits the person involved from a range of activities. These include being banned from certain parts of Pallister Park; congregating with any one of 11 named associates; congregating with four or more youths in public; driving or riding on any vehicle off the public highway; drinking in a public place."

And he warned: "If this person is found to be in breach of the interim order then we can take the case back to the courts who may impose a fine or custodial sentence.

"We treat anti-social very seriously. This case shows that by working with local people and other agencies we have the means to do something about it."

A precedent was set earlier this year when Nathan Patton, 16, of Helmlington, was sentenced to a 12-month detention and training order by a judge for three breaches of an anti-social behaviour order. He was made the subject of the order after driving 20 families from their homes.