CALLS have been made for extra police to be drafted onto Canvey over the summer as a “hit squad” to tackle trouble-making youths once and for all.

Complaints to the police and councillors are becoming increasingly regular as a group of youths, aged about 12 or 13, continue to ride antisocially across the island.

Drivers told how they have had to make emergency stops and swerve at the last minute to avoid the bike riding yobs.

At the weekend, police carried out high-visibility patrols in the High Street and Eastern Esplanade to target nuisance youths on bikes, who are now riding into arcades and the MovieStarr cinema.

Veteran Canvey councillor Ray Howard now intends to set up a meeting with Canvey’s community policing team and Roger Hirst, Essex Police and Crime Commissioner, about increasing the police presence on the island.

He said: “I do believe that somebody is going to get seriously hurt before long and the amount of people who have been affected by these youths is very concerning.

“I realise that the police have got a difficult job to do but there has got to be a police presence on foot and on bikes.

“We need a police presence on the High Street continuously at the moment to catch and prosecute the people responsible.

“There is a small minority of youths that are ruining it for everyone.

“We need a hit squad here now. The schools are about to break up and I am worried that the problem is only going tog et worse.

“At my meeting with Roger Hirst, I will be asking for more police to be drafted onto the island over the summer.”

Anyone with information can call Essex Police on 101 or independent crime-fighting charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.