A GANG of teenage thugs who brought terror to a North-East housing estate were named and shamed yesterday as a court banned them from the streets.

The court decision is Britain's biggest single banning order.

Members of the mob, the self-styled Wallsend Warriors, first hit the headlines in May when they caused a major health scare.

A massive police search was launched after seven members of the gang collapsed several hours after downing a cocktail of alcohol, cannabis and anti-depressants in the garden of a derelict house.

Yesterday, Wayne Dack, 17, Richard O'Carroll, Lee Armstrong, Kelvin Shotton and Paul Borg, all 16, and Andrew Patterson, 14, were banned from a cluster of streets in Wallsend, North Tyneside.

The ruling followed a two-day hearing before North Tyneside magistrates, who granted police an antisocial behaviour order (ASBO).

Superintendent Peter Gauden, of Northumbria Police, said: "There was a gang of 20 to 30 kids just running wild on the streets, causing mayhem.

"It was fast turning into a lawless area, which was highlighted by the drugs incident, but we knew of problems before that.

"Firefighters and police used to be stoned when we turned up. There is no doubt that crews saved lives that night tracking down the youngsters who had overdosed and getting them to hospital.

"We are not saying that these six took part in all these offences, but they appeared to be the main ringleaders."

O'Carroll, Armstrong, Dack, Patterson and Borg were served with ASBOs, stopping them entering Martin Road and the streets leading off, though Armstrong is allowed in between 4am and 9am to do a milk round.

Although Shotton escaped a ban, he will be arrested if he is found causing harassment anywhere in North Tyneside.

Dack, the oldest youth in the gang, has received 34 convictions for burglary and dishonesty in the past two years.

In one incident he was caught ransacking a family's home while they were at a funeral.