YOBS painting the town with their graffiti run the risk of arrest as police have launched a crackdown.

Officers have already arrested three teenagers in a bid to stop youngsters causing havoc with their spray cans.

Walls, garages, phoneboxes, shop shutters and road signs have all been targeted by yobs in Cherrydown, Ghyllgrove and Gloucester Park.

In the area behind the parade of shops in Cherrydown every garage door has been damaged by the vandals.

Some are covered in obscene slogans while other have been daubed with "tags" - the signature left behind by prolific offenders.

Business owners Sally Ellis and Penny Sutton, who have recently opened the Glamour and Funk salon in Cherrydown, said the graffiti was an eyesore.

Mrs Sutton said: "We are trying to make an impact and make the area look nice with our shop and this just drags it down."

PC Sam Creighton, neighbourhood officer for the Nethermayne ward, said officers will be beefing-up patrols on her patch in a bid to drive down the number of offences.

She said: "We are taking a zero-tolerance approach to graffiti because it's everywhere and it's getting worse.

"We are constantly getting phone calls from people who say they are scared to walk down particular roads because the area is covered in graffiti."

PC Creighton said officers will also be delivering leaflets to residents in the affected areas encouraging them to get in touch with information about the culprits.

Wendy Harvey, community warden for St George's Community Housing, covering the Kingswood area, added: "The older residents do find the graffiti intimidating.

"But we are trying to tackle the causes of the graffiti, not just the symptoms.

"We have been working with the young people to see what we can do to improve the facilities for them and going into schools to talk to them about the impact of their behaviour."

  • A 16-year-old boy has been arrested and bailed in connection with the graffiti in Cherrydown while two 13-year-old boys have been arrested and bailed in connection with daubings in Basildon town centre.