Pupils at Putney's Elliot School have been accused by residents of a tower block on the Ashburton Estate of making their lives "a living hell".

Residents claim teenagers who congregate at the communal entrance to Hayward Gardens smoke joints, abuse passers-by, urinate and spit on people's door steps.

A Hayward resident told The Wandsworth Guardian he has spoken to the school, Wandsworth Council and the police, but none of them have offered any solution.

He said: "They come in, spit and urinate everywhere and smoke drugs. Most people are too scared to say anything to them because they are quite threatening."

The resident added the problem has been going on for at least a year, with the worst times in the morning, lunch times and after school.

He has approached the youths and asked them to leave on several occasions but revealed they usually react by spitting all over his car when he leaves.

The resident added: "The council promised to install locking doors and an intercom on estate blocks in May, but it keeps putting the date back."

Another Hayward Gardens resident said: "I live here on my own and I don't feel safe when I get home or have a day off work and find a gang of schoolchildren blocking the stairway and refusing to budge."

Victor Burgess, Elliot School's headmaster, said the school always acts on complaints made about pupils and, if necessary, will punish those responsible.

A council spokesman said patrols had been stepped up in response to complaints and added that the block was recently put under a two-week observation, which failed to detect a problem on the scale which has been claimed.

The spokesman said: "The blocks in Hayward Gardens will all be fitted with entry phone systems from January as part of the council's £163,000 project to install them in all tower blocks on our estates.

"This security measure will prevent anyone from entering the blocks who should not be there."

December 12, 2001 16:30