I FEEL compelled to write this letter for the well-being of my parents and other residents of Tottington. I work in Newcastle but from time to time I come back to Bury to see how my parents are. What I find is unbelievable.

On Friday, March 11, the wing mirror on my father's car was broken off. This has now happened five times in two years. The wiper blades on my sister's car were ripped off two weeks ago, the fourth time this has happened in the past two years.

Three weeks ago the bonnet of my new car was scratched by kids sitting on it. Garden walls have been knocked down and someone drove a JCB into the house of a neighbour, a lady in her eighties. Every week something is damaged, and nothing appears to be done to prevent it happening again.

My family has spent in excess of £3,000 of our hard-earned money repairing damage caused by these mindless yobs. No doubt it's a similar story for families elsewhere in Tottington.

Correct me if I am wrong, but isn't your home a place to de-stress and relax? However, it has got so bad for my parents that weekends are now a nightmare. I find it hard to accept that when she should be sleeping, my mother feels the need to spend her Friday and Saturday nights looking out for kids doing damage to the cars on our street.

I constantly resist the temptation to blame the police and politicians. However, nothing has really been done to improve things. So who is accountable and what can we do? Certainly the residents are trying.

My parents and our neighbours are the most decent, hard-working people you could wish to meet, and to see them in this situation is extremely frustrating and very concerning for me. I also worry greatly about the more elderly folk in the street who are powerless to protect themselves and their property. I fear it is only a matter of time before the stress of all this seriously affects their health.

I would like to ask the police, local councillors and our MP whether they acknowledge that there is a problem and, if so, what they are doing about it. I would request specifics, not fluffy answers please.

SUSIE COOKSON