POLICE in riot gear raided a 'drugs den' in a Morecambe street after residents banded together and pressed for it to be shut down.

Officers stormed into a flat on Kensington Road where they found a 'significant' quantity of used needles.

They immediately issued the flat with a notice for it to be closed.

Residents, under the banner of the newly formed Kensington Neighbourhood Watch, had complained about 24-hour noise and around the clock activities at the property, and signed a petition demanding action.

Police were able to dish out the closure notice - the first in Morecambe - under new anti-social behaviour rules because raids revealed the home was being used in connection with Class A drugs.

Insp Jill Townley is confident that when the closure order goes before magistrates today (Thursday) it will be imposed for three months and the residents forced to move out with immediate effect.

Speaking after the raid, she said: "This is good news. A mother and daughter live at the address but at times we have found eight or nine people in it. A closure notice is the tough form of action that needs to be taken."

One local, who did not want to be named, said residents had been tortured by loud and obscene shouting, drugs paraphernalia, crime and above all fear from the flat.

"It has damaged out quality of life and we should not have to live with it. We are really grateful to the police who have done a wonderful job and taken our concerns very seriously," he added.