Ringing 101 gained us action on yobs

They were noisy and could appear threatening as there were sometimes as many as two dozen of them shouting and laughing. Sometimes they had alcohol obtained by asking shoppers to fetch it from the local shop.

I was concerned as the neighbourhood was being damaged by these young people and some older residents felt threatened. The area was beginning to look rundown.

We tried phoning the police but, although they came on several occasions, particularly when windows were broken, this action was ineffective as the groups of children had always vanished before the police arrived.

As a last resort and not expecting much to happen, I phoned 101.

A young man from the Housing Department came to see me and asked me to fill in a diary of anti-social occurrences. In particular he asked me to note any names or other useful information: a car sometimes parked near the young people and the occupants of this car talked to the group. Did I know the make etc of the car and its number?

I filled in the diary sheets. Meanwhile, the group of young people continued to meet outside and nothing was being done to stop them. I got very fed up but the nice young man said that the "Safer Estates Unit" was meeting and would work out a strategy. I didn't hold out much hope!

But, about a year after my initial contact through 101, the group of young people dis-appeared.

Apparently the local wardens had been re-routed to include our neighbourhood and had begun to persuade the young people that they should not gather there. Local shopkeepers had been asked to be particularly vigilant over their sales of alcohol and notices regarding the "procuring of alcohol" for minors appeared in off-licences. The Community Centre was asked to consider several crime-prevention measures. I think there were other initiatives but I didn't know about them.

But me ringing 101 has worked – not as fast as I would have liked but it has, nonethe less, worked.

Anne Paling, Sheffield