A MUM fears teens in Penhill are putting themselves at risk of spreading the coronavirus by ignoring the government’s social distancing pleas.

Nicola Holmes complained after a group of youngsters started congregating regularly in Minty Park behind Ramsbury Avenue.

At one point she had to lock her doors to prevent her own teenager going out.

The mum of two girls said: “There’s a group of them there pretty much everyday. They come normally around five or six in the evening with their bikes and just go up and down the grass.”

Nicola, whose house backs onto the park, added: “When I’m in my garden I can hear the screaming and shouting.

“The other day I opened the gate to confront them and three or four ran off one way and two or three headed off in the other direction.

“It’s very concerning because people are dying from this virus,” she said.

She added: “When you go to the shops there’s always children aged around 10 or 11 coming out with ice creams and sweets.

“There’s a couple of houses where everyone is coming together to sit in the garden with their children.

“But parents round here don’t seem to be bothered, they just seem to think it’s a joke,” she said.

Nicola, who moved to the area from Pinehurst last year said seeing other children wandering the streets is affecting her relationship with her eldest daughter who is 17.

Nicola added: “My eldest daughter is hard work. We’ve had a rocky couple of years, she’s just been spiralling since she was 15 – not going to school and she’s run away a few times.”

Nicola said seeing other young people outside makes keeping her daughter confined to the house and garden much more difficult.

“The other day she kicked off so badly I literally had to lock the doors,” said Nicola, who also has her elderly grandfather living with the family.

“She was just adamant she was going to go out. And then she could get me fined, or possibly harm someone else if she’s carrying the virus.

“She was just screaming and shouting. It’s really, really hard to cope with sometimes.”

Nicola added: “But I can understand that if they do see other children outside then they want to go out and enjoy themselves too.”

The mum urged parents to follow the government’s advice during the coronavirus pandemic.

“Keep children inside,” she said.

“They’re going to kill people, this is it’s not a joke. You’ve already got people with anxiety, depression and other problems stuck inside and you’re causing families even more problems.

“Can’t you see allowing other children to do what they please isn’t fair?

“Please listen to the advice and keep children in. There’s is no reason for them to be out like this,” she said.