RESIDENTS on Cobden Road are becoming concerned after it is thought their cars were targeted twice in the space of two weeks.

On June 14 a group of vandals walked along the quiet street off Ferndale Road kicking mirrors off the row of parked cars.

And early this week residents reported a pair of men acting suspiciously and trying car door handles late at night.

Just before 11pm two men were seen loitering in the street before checking how secure the cars were. When police arrived, they could find no trace of any suspects in the vicinity.

Mark Jones, 41, and partner Becky Watts, 33, had called the police and said they shouted at the men who were going along the street trying door handles.

The men ran off before police arrived on the scene.

Becky, who says she called 999 on three separate occassions, including one call which ended up being answered by Gloucestershire Police, before she got through to Wiltshire Police, said: “It was about 11pm on Monday night. We were in bed and my partner just popped up and said he could hear someone outside.

“We had a look and there was somebody leaning against the wall out the front of the house. I just thought it was a bit strange but they were doing nothing wrong so didn’t think any more of it at the time. We could see another guy down the road just hanging around as well.

“Suddenly they both just ran off. I phoned the police to let them know there were these blokes acting suspiciously.”

Becky said she scared one of the suspects off as he approached her property.

“I was just so angry because we couldn’t do anything; we were just watching what was going on,” she said.

“One of them tried the car door right at the end of the road and was doing his best to get in. I shouted out twice at him to get away from the cars.

“It is quite a bad area for things like this and I am thinking about moving away as soon as I can afford to. This is on top of what happened a couple of weeks ago. I’ve had enough.”

A spokesman for Wiltshire Police said: “Wiltshire Police were called at 10.43pm on Monday, June 23 to reports of males acting suspiciously on Cobden Road, Swindon.

“Officers were at the scene at 10.58pm and conducted a search of the area. There was no trace of any suspects.

Call Wiltshire Police on 101.”