ANGRY residents staged a walk-out at a council meeting claiming councillors and the police were doing nothing to save them from youths rampaging on their estate.

More than a dozen residents on the Brantfell and Windsor Road estate in Knuzden attended the meeting of the Oswaldtwistle Area Council at Rhyddings High School, Howarth Street, last night.

They walked out of the meeting after committee chairman Peter Britcliffe refused to give them any more time to discuss their problems with local police during an open forum.

The residents, who left the meeting, calling it a "What a waste of time," had earlier told the meeting their lives were being ruined by thugs.

They claimed to have had their windows smashed, eggs pelted at them, abuse hurled at them in the street and added they were intimidated by them on a regular basis.

One elderly man, who asked not to be named, said during an impassioned speech to the committee: "Until you know what it is like to have a brick hurled through your window as you sit in your living room, you have no idea what we are going through.

"Look at us. We are elderly people. We don't want to be causing trouble but we are the victims. I even collared some of the youngsters and held them in my house until the police arrived but then they just let them go.

"The police are doing nothing to help us. They don't seem to want to offend the youngsters. We are living in fear."

An elderly woman, who lives on the same street as the first man, added: "They pelt eggs at our houses and at us. I know so many people who have had their windows put through."

A spokesman for Blackburn Police, which serves the Knuzden area, said: "There was a very unique problem over Christmas where five windows were smashed.

"The youngsters apprehended by this gentleman, we don't believe, have caused the problem. The ones responsible have come from outside Knuzden and have moved on now."

As residents asked to respond, pointing out they were still being intimidated, Coun Britcliffe stood up and said: "Knuzden has had enough time tonight. We have to move on."

As the residents filed out of the meeting, one upset pensioner said: "Just because we are in Knuzden, no-one seems to care. We are still scared to go out of our homes. If we lived in Oswaldtwistle, it would be different." No-one seems to care. We are still scared to go out of our homes.