COUNCIL officials in Darlington are appealing for assistance to gather information to help them take action against problem tenants and anti-social behaviour.

Darlington Borough Council says it is finding it difficult to deal with problems in the Minors Crescent area of Cockerton because of the lack of hard evidence from the public.

While council officers know there is a problem in the area, they are having difficulties serving anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs) or eviction notices without information.

One resident, who has lived in Minors Crescent for 20 years, told how the problems are making life difficult for her and her children.

She said the problems had become much worse in the two years since she bought her council house.

"It's a normal thing to see youths, 12 to 20, walking around with planks with nails in, either systematically attacking each other or beating other people up," she said.

Her car has been attacked 12 times this year and four families have moved out of the area in recent weeks.

The woman fears she can not send her youngest children to the nearest park because they might become embroiled in trouble.

She said her reluctance to allow her eight and 11-year-old girls out was turning them into "social lepers". The elder girl was shunned because she had refused to fight back when another child hit her.

Some bus services to the area have been stopped after a series of attacks on vehicles.

A council spokesman said: "We know who some of these youngsters are, and we have spoken to parents.

"One of the difficulties we have is that residents who complain are not keeping things like diaries of events, so that we have hard evidence that we can confront people with."

He said people were reluctant to come forward, particularly to report anti-social behaviour to police.

A Durham police spokesman said: "If anyone has a problem, then we are happy for them to get in touch with us and talk to us about it, particularly if they can offer information that would point to those responsible."

He said that following the problems with the buses, officers had visited residents asking for evidence of problems to help them with inquiries into problems in the area.

However, he said, there had been no major problems in the last month.

Anyone with information for the police should telephone (01325) 467681.