A POLICE commander today vowed to rid the Chapelfields estate of yobs as it was announced that 20 arrests have been made in just two months.

Inspector Ken Gill pledged to continue with "firm and robust" policing of the Acomb estate and warned the vandals and tearaways that more arrests will follow.

Insp Gill, commander of York's west side, said: "It concerns me greatly that we write Chapelfields off as a 'problem estate'. A lot of good people live there who deserve a better quality of life, and we are trying to redress the balance in their favour."

The Chapelfields estate has been the scene of numerous incidents of antisocial behaviour in recent months.

Countless complaints have been received by police from residents plagued by often drunken youths vandalising shops, cars and street furniture, and using threatening and abusive language.

Officers have been assaulted, bus shelters set on fire and buses and their drivers repeatedly targeted by the marauding gangs.

Last month services were again withdrawn as a result.

So York police launched an operation, code-name Recall, to crack down on the thugs and the number of arrests has been rising steadily. A youth was arrested and jailed for his part in a campaign of racial hatred which culminated in a flaming litter bin being thrown at a pizza parlour on the estate.

And Kevin Scott, 18, of Chapelfields Road, was sent to a young offenders' institution for 12 months on Friday after pleading guilty to affray and an incident where a knife was brandished at police.

Insp Gill said that Chapelfields, despite its reputation, was not lawless. "It is just experiencing some difficulties at the moment that other York estates have been through," he said.

Insp Gill cited the Bell Farm estate as an example of a once-troubled neighbourhood which has now been turned around.

He said a hardcore minority of individuals in Chapelfields seemed intent on making the lives of others a misery, but pledged they would not be allowed to ruin things for the rest of the estate.

"These are law-abiding people who have a right to live in peace," he said.

A spokeswoman for the Chapelfields Residents Association welcomed the police's efforts.

She said: "They are doing a very good job with the resources available to them, but it would be better if there were more officers on the ground."