YOUNG skate and bike enthusiasts have pleaded with their town council to help stamp out vandalism at a skateboard park.

Shildon's skateboard park committee members have told councillors vandals are making their lives a misery at the £95,000 High Five park.

Town council clerk Tom Toward said council workers were spending hours every morning cleaning up the park, which is regularly littered with broken glass.

He said: "There are two sets of youths that are the problem. There are the ones who are going along when the skaters are there and start threatening the other users, and there are the ones who are going along late at night, drinking and smashing empty bottles. They are also pouring alcohol over the equipment, leaving it sticky and dirty for those who want to use it the next day, and it is having to be cleaned."

The skateboard park was opened last August after the council was awarded a National Lottery grant from Sport England.

The facility was built in response to requests by youngsters who enjoyed skateboarding, inline skating and doing stunts on BMX-style bikes.

They have formed a committee and have also spent a lot of time raising money for charity to put something back into the community.

But Mr Toward said that they were being let down by a minority of youths who were determined to spoil the facility for everyone else.

He said: "This is something that has been going on for a very long time and we have spoken to the police about it time and again. They need to do more."

Chief Inspector Ian Coates, of Newton Aycliffe police, said that they were aware that there were long-standing problems with vandalism and anti-social behaviour at the skate park.

He said: "From September to November last year we ran an operation specifically targeting this problem and it was quite successful. It came to a natural finish when the colder nights came. We have been talking to the town council about this and are fully committed to tackling this problem as soon as we can."