A GANG of mums has been warned by police to stop terrorising people or face arrest.

Police revealed the warning - issued to a group of women living in the Spring Street area of Spring Hill, Accrington - after complaints were raised about anti-social behaviour by concerned residents.

Inspector Julian Platt, in charge of policing in the town, said he had recently spent the weekend on duty in Spring Hill and 'had not realised how bad it was'.

In the last week alone, 11 people have been arrested for a variety of offences, including anti-social behaviour.

At a meeting of the town's police and community forum, held at Accrington Town Hall, concerned residents from Spring Hill called for action.

One, who asked not to be named, said: "One particular problem is with a group of women, most of them mothers, who gather outside their houses and drink morning, noon and night.

"They get rowdy and rude and when you ask them to quieten down, they don't, they get even more abusive.

"People always assume anti-social behaviour is done by kids but that isn't always the case. We need the police to do something.

"We just want to be able to enjoy living in our homes."

Inspector Platt said: "I recently spent time in Spring Hill as part of an operation to tackle anti-social behaviour and I had not realised how bad it was.

"As a result, we have now started putting more high visibility officers in the area to reassure people and we have made a number of arrests.

"I know of the incident being referred to and we have spoken to the women concerned.

"They know that we are aware of what is going on and that it will not be tolerated."

Maurice Cowell, chairman of the police and community forum, added: "This is just one part of Spring Hill.

"It would be unfair to tarnish the whole area with the same problem but there are pockets and it is good to hear the police are doing something about it."