A terrified family listened as a group of 20 teenagers attacked a fence with a four-foot-long pick axe and then turned on their house.

Dianne Coates, 52, of Greenshaw Drive, Haxby, said that after abandoning the implement when it became lodged in the fence, the young people, of both sexes, came up the drive saying 'let's break some windows'.

Her daughters, both in their twenties, and one of whom is eight months pregnant, heard shouting and swearing as the group approached, and yelled at them from their bedroom windows.

Mrs Coates' husband, who was watching TV downstairs, went outside to scare them off and they split into small groups and fled.

Mrs Coates, who has lived in the house for 20 years, said the incident was frightening, but part of an alarming trend, which is making Haxby an unpleasant place to live.

She said: "Groups of youths quite often come up the road and we let them pass.

"It is better to keep mum and say nothing because otherwise they might turn nasty.

"My daughters heard the atrocious language but it was when they said 'right, lets go for the windows' that they both stuck their heads out and shouted at them."They were very noisy using foul language and rolling around.

"That made us think they were drunk."

Mrs Coates said that her family had lived in Haxby for more than 20 years and although under-age drinking had always happened, problems caused by drinking and drug-taking were now reaching ridiculous proportions.

She said: "I would like to see the parents take some responsibility for the kids out there on a night.

"They think their child is not capable of doing this sort of thing but when their child gets into a gang and has access to drink and drugs they are capable of anything."

Strensall Police confirmed that they had attended the incident at around 10pm on Saturday and had removed a pick axe handle from a fence bordering Mrs Coates' property.

Sergeant Tim Bright, said: "This incident obviously begs the question what on earth are these people doing with such an implement at that time of the night."

He said: "One of the biggest parts of police time these days seems to be taken up with complaints of nuisance youths right across York."

He said that in many cases, youths were found to be in possession of drugs.

He said that on this occasion six police officers had been dispatched to the scene, arriving six minutes after the call, but all the youths had made off.

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