AN ELDENE woman was left 'petrified' after watching a ‘knife’ gang attack a car.

Police were called to Stubsmead, off Eldene Drive, at 11.45pm on Saturday after reports of a ‘public disorder’ – which residents say was a gang of youths attempting to smash a house's windows.

When officers arrived they found no evidence of disorder. But residents say that the gang returned later that evening.

At around 1am, two residents described hearing a loud banging noise ‘like a sledgehammer’.

When they looked out of the window they saw a group of youths ‘bashing’ a blue Ford Mondeo.

The car, which had a 2003 registration plate, was still parked on the road on Monday afternoon. The back window had been smashed and the tyres showed signs of having been slashed.

“I’m petrified here,” said one resident, 60.

The grandmother-of-two was woken to the noise of what she believed to be the gang attacking the car.

“I looked out of the window. There were a lot of kids – they seemed to swarm along the road.”

The woman said that she saw two white vans drive along the road after the attack, but she was not sure whether they were involved in the incident.

A mum-of-two, who has lived on the street for three years, said of the attack on the blue Mondeo: “I have never seen anything like around here.”

Another woman, who wrote to the Adver, called it a ‘huge disturbance’ - with the gang ‘all carrying knives’.

She said that the area had seen a growing problem from drug dealing and from groups of youths congregating in the street.

“They hang around the street all through the day and night and everyone is too scared to say anything or to give the police their names.

“Our neighbourhood is being terrorised by these youths.”

One resident said that the Morrisons car park on Eldene Drive had become a magnet for antisocial behaviour. “I don’t dare go over there after seven o’clock,” she said.

Another said that youths drive around the bottom of the car park at night. The woman, 72, said: “It’s like a mini-rave.”

She added: “The police do know but they don’t seem to do anything about it.”

Wiltshire Police were approached for comment.

To report any information about the attack to Wiltshire Police call 101 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.