A HOUSE branded a ‘24/7 nightmare’ by neighbours after a string of rowdy parties has been closed by police.

Officers joined forces with council bosses to shut 55 Reed Street, Burnley Wood, after a year-long battle with tenant John Paul Toomer.

Toomer, 36, who has been evicted and now lives elsewhere in Burnley, was also hit with a three-year anti-social behaviour order preventing him from misbehaving or annoying neighbours wherever he lives.

Residents said they were relieved their “nightmare was over” while police congratulated them for taking a stand against the troublemakers.

The action was taken after people complained that yobs drank in the house from 10am until the early hours and regularly urinated in the street.

People living nearby were left in fear of aggressive behaviour, from people coming and going at the terrace house.

Toomer's eviction from the house marks the latest stage in a battle by the authorities to reclaim the streets of Burnley Wood.

Last October police obtained a similar closure order for the house next door, 57 Reed Street, after the property became a 'heroin haunt'.

Drug addicts were regularly found at number 57, abusing passers-by and holding wild parties until dawn.

Parents with children attending nearby Springfield Primary, and customers of Parliament Street shops, would avoid the adjoining homes because of fears for their safety.

Neighbour Wilf Bray, 68, who has lived in Reed Street for 40 years, said the area was slowly returning to normal after a year "from hell".

Mr Bray said: "We was living a nightmare, 24-7, but for the past two weeks it has calmed down and it is like living in another world.

"Children have started coming down the street again and it is getting a lot better than it was for the last 12 months.

"They were drinking from 10am, and there was all kinds of fighting and abusive language. We also think they have been doing heroin there as well."

Under the closure order terms, the property will be sealed up for three months until it can be relet..

Pc Adam Gordon, of Burnley's Multi-Agency Problem Solving (MAPS) team, said: " I would like to thank local residents for their support and for having the courage to stand up this kind of behaviour, and working with us to achieve this closure order."“.

Joanne Swift, from Burnley council's anti-social behaviour team, said: "The council and its partners will not tolerate anti-social behaviour. Acting on information received from local residents will take action - offenders risk losing not just their liberty but their homes as well."