RESIDENTS of a Gwent town who claim boy racers are making their lives hell have threatened to block the roads around their homes.

Around 50 people were at a meeting last night to discuss the issue of 'cruisers', who repeatedly drive around the streets of Blackwood.

Some residents who attended the meeting at St Margaret's Church said they could no longer tolerate the situation after "13 years of torment" - and were now considering direct action by blocking the road outside their homes.

They said they were sick of the sound of revving engines and booming car stereos - sometimes until 3am.

Eve Chant, of Pentwyn Avenue, said: "There is only so much local people can stand - why should people be disturbed and intimidated in their homes in the early hours of the morning?"

Inspector John Everett, of Gwent Police, urged aggrieved residents to have patience over the next few months to see if new CCTV cameras and the extension of double yellow lines in the town centre would have any impact.

He said: "I am sympathetic to the problems you have - we need to find a permanent solution, and sometimes that can take a little time."

Inspector Everett stressed that the majority of youngsters who congregated around the town centre in their cars were law-abiding.

He said: "Around 80 to 90 per cent of the drivers who gather in Blackwood are not maniacs - they just want to show off their cars. It is the minority who are causing the problems."

Several youngsters turned up to air their own views. They agreed with Islwyn AM Brian Hancock, who claimed most of the troublemakers were coming from outside the Blackwood area - even from as far away as Weston-super-Mare.

Mr Hancock said people travelled so far because of the town's reputation for "gratuitous sex" on the nights the boy racers congregate.

Some of the youngsters pledged their support to a residents' action group set up in November to try to resolve the problem through regular consultation with the police and Caerphilly council.

*PICTURED: The Rev David Jones and Eve Chant, one of the organisers of the public meeting, in Blackwood High Street.