A GANG which terrorises a Leyland neighbourhood are not typical of youngsters in the town say police.

They say complaints about youngsters behaving badly have dropped by half in the past year and are urging residents to be more tolerant towards young people

The community groups have hit back following the Citizen's story two weeks ago about Leyland residents living in fear of gangs of youths who were swearing, shouting and being sick on a regular basis outside their homes.

Community support services co-ordinator Sgt Steve Evans said complaints about youths had halved in the last year.

He said: "Young people are always getting a bad press. At Wellfield High school pupils invited pensioners for a coffee morning. It gives the pensioners a chance to get to know the pupils instead of being frightened of them."

In January 1995 the police received more than 80 juvenile complaints but this year it fell to 60 during the same month.

And students from Runshaw college and have teamed up with the police to pinpoint the town's main trouble areas.

Jack Todd, head of school management at Runshaw College is spearheading a survey with the police and hopes to find ways to tackle any problems in the town.

He said: "We want to know what people find threatening. Whether people are frightened of going out late at night or if they're plagued by noisy neighbours."

Youth and community worker Loz Lomax is currently talking to the town's youngsters and plans to set up a youth forum.

For more details about community support services contact Leyland police on 01772-433561.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.