FANS parking their cars across driveways, hooligans throwing bottles and yobs shouting long into the night.

These are some of the complaints from residents near the County Ground who don't want Swindon Town to invite Bristol Rovers to become tenants.

They are horrified at the idea of having to contend with another set of supporters and fear police costs could be passed on to the taxpayer.

Rovers could play home games in Swindon for the next 18 months while their Memorial Stadium home is being developed.

A group of local people gathered at the County Ground yesterday morning to make their views known, and a majority were fiercely opposed to a ground-share deal being struck.

Coun Sinead Darker (Con, Central) co-ordinated the protest, and said the council would not be pressurised into accepting a ground-share.

She said: "I met with the club (Town) on May 17 with the other Central councillors and the Broad Street Community Council. We told the club that the residents are overwhelmingly against the proposed ground-share.

"At the moment the residents only have to suffer a match every second Saturday - a ground-share would ruin their lives."

There are four main objections, with violence among supporters the most volatile.

Coun Darker said: "Apart from crowd trouble people are worried about parking, litter and the fact that games will be happening twice as often."

Kevin Leakey, secretary of the Broad Street Area Community Council, said: "We haven't been able to find anyone in the Central area who thinks this is a good thing.

"People are concerned that there will be traffic and parking problems happening every single week.

"At the moment people work around the games and go out for the day.

"They accepted that when they came here but this is asking too much of them."

A 45-year-old Shrivenham Road resident, who did not want to be named, said he had lost count of the times his driveway had been blocked.

He said: "I have contacted the club about it but they don't get anything done.

"The supporters don't care because they are thinking about the match, and we get left with the consequences."

A pensioner, who did not want to be named, said: "I have been kept up by all the shouting and trouble they cause.

"I don't follow football but I know enough to realise that having opposing fans in the same town is a recipe for disaster."

A community meeting is being held at the Broadgreen Centre on June 13 to discuss residents' views, and Swindon Town spokesman Chris Tanner confirmed that the club itself will hold a meeting within a fortnight.

He said: "There will be a meeting for fans and residents to discuss the next step as part of the process. We can't add anything more at this stage."

TrustSTFC announced earlier this week that they were opposed to a ground-share deal with Rovers.