RESIDENTS in the Dovetons area of Williton are calling for a higher police presence after a gang of youngsters rampaged through the streets.

They claim they were subjected to more than an hour of shouting and screaming, verbal abuse and banging on windows during the incident on Monday night.

And they say it is not the first time they have been disturbed.

Douglas Scott told the Free Press that people felt terrorised in their homes.

"It started about 11pm and went on beyond midnight and there were between a dozen and 15 kids aged from 12 to about 15," he said.

"They were running around Long Street, the Dovetons estate and Limpetshell Lane.

"It isn't the first time it's happened and it's just not acceptable. We were all kept awake and elderly people in particular feel very intimidated by this sort of behaviour."

Mr Scott did not ring the police at the time but went to the village's police station the following morning to report the disturbance.

He said he was told that a police unit had patrolled the area at about 1am - apparently in response to a call from the Whittington family, who live in the Dovetons area.

Sue Whittington said her husband had made the call after youngsters hopped over the hedge of the family's bungalow.

"They ran around banging on our windows, ringing our doorbell and howling abuse," she said.

"My husband went outside but they just wouldn't go away. This sort of thing has been going on for some time but Monday night was exceptionally bad."

Village newsagent and local district councillor Hugh Davies said he encountered the gang much earlier in the evening.

"I was driving along Long Street at about 7.45pm and they started screaming abuse at me.

"Much later in the evening they were banging at a friend of mine's window - she thought they were going to smash it and was really worried.

"It looked to me as if they had been drinking or were high on something. People have really had enough of this.

"We need more of a police presence and we need officers to get out of their cars and onto the streets on foot."

Minehead sector Inspector Carol Pearce said the police presence in the Williton beat area - which includes Watchet and Carhampton - had been increased in the last two months.

She said previously three response officers had been based in Minehead and just one in Williton, but an increase in the number of service calls in the Williton area had led to the cover being divided equally.

"We are moving forward to address this and we now have two officers in Minehead and two in Williton.

"But we do need people to report incidents as they are happening so that we can respond and so that we can also see where we need to focus our resources.

"If there are problems, we need people to tell us so that we can set our community priorities."

Inspector Pearce said crime trends were reviewed fortnightly and the number of calls received on particular issues, such as anti-social behaviour, did have a bearing on where resources were targeted.

"Identified priorities do receive an enhanced response," she said.

Inspector Pearce said the first point of call for people wanting to report incidents should be the 0845 4567000 number, or for emergencies, 999.

In respect of Monday night's disturbance, she said police logs showed that a unit responded to Mr Whittington's call within 20 minutes.

Williton Parish Council was told this week that anti-social behaviour in the Dovetons and Long Street areas had been a priority for the local police beat team last month.

Police community support officer Mark Middleton-Smith told the authority's monthly meeting that foot patrols had been carried out but there had been no evidence of anti-social behaviour - possibly because of the increased police presence.

PCSO Middleton-Smith said the village's Memorial Ground had also been regularly patrolled but, again, there had been no evidence of any problems - although councillors told him there had been more vandalism to one of the shelters.

He also stressed that any complaints or reports of incidents had to be phoned in as soon as possible.

"Unless people brings matters to our attention, we don't know it is happening."

PCSO Middleton-Smith said the priorities for the local beat team for August including Danesfield Middle School's playing field, where young adults had been racing remote controlled cars late at night, and a clampdown on dangerous driving on the A39 between Williton and Washford, where there had been five reported incidents recently.

And he said anti-social behaviour on the Memorial Ground would also remain a priority.