IMAGINE the nightmare of the residents of a once-quiet East Lancashire street who now find their neighbourhood transformed by rampaging youths into what their MP describes as a 'war zone.'

They are abused by screaming, foul-mouthed louts in what seems a systematic campaign. Many are afraid to leave their homes at night.

A caravan has been set on fire twice and a car torched. Lighted material has been shoved through letter boxes and back alleys turned into toilets.

The situation in Accrington's Bold Street is so bad that some residents have blocked up their letter boxes. One family even left their house after the thugs targeted them. Others have installed floodlights and video cameras to protect their homes.

But why should decent-living people have to endure such terror -- and be forced to fortify their homes as if they were truly in a war zone?

The police say they have intervened are continuing to monitor the area. But, since Bold Street's ordeal has gone on for six long weeks, is this response enough to end the nightmare rather than simply subdue it?

Because anti-social behaviour of this sort is the bane of so many people's lives -- and have we not seen what is happening today in Accrington repeated on housing estates all over our region? -- the law has responded with new deterrents. Among them are anti-social behaviour orders, parenting orders and eviction orders -- all designed to make people behave properly and live up to their responsibilities or suffer severe punishments.

Why do we not see these weapons employed more often -- and in 'blitz' fashion? Why are not police rounding up these louts, confronting their parents with what they are up to and, together with the local authority, threatening them with these measures.

Has not Home Secretary Jack Straw already pleaded for them to be put to better use? Those whose lives are being made a misery have a right to the fullest protection. And when their ordeal goes on week after week they are right to wonder whether they are being let down.