Heaton’s Safer Neighbourhoods Team is stepping up a gear in its crackdown on antisocial dirt bike riders.

Two bobbies on the beat, Acting Sergeant Maggie Elgie and PC James Anderson, spotted a youth riding a dirtbike in Tauton Avenue, Harold Hill, who sped off once he had noticed them. The pair soon found the bike hidden behind some waste bins in Montgomery Crescent and seized it.

APS Elgie said: “We receive many complaints from local residents concerned about both the manner in which these bikes are ridden along with the noise they cause. We are pleased to have removed this bike from being used. I would urge any parents considering buying their children such bikes to think carefully and ensure that they are only ridden in authorised areas and not in local parks and open spaces.”