A DERELICT terrace has become a rat run for troublemakers fleeing the police.

What was once a normal street in Grangetown, Teesside, is now a series of empty houses stripped of floors, walls and furniture.

To the untrained eye, they stand as separate buildings, boarded up against intruders. But to a core group in the community which uses them, they are clearly interlinked by a network of planks.

If the police arrive at one of the six houses, they flee to another, through holes in the walls to which the walkways are attached, leaving their pursuers baffled.

Now Redcar and Cleveland Borough Council, which owns the properties in Derwentwater, has decided to demolish them.

According to Paul Tuffs, chairman of the Grangetown Neighbourhood Association, they have become a hazard.

"They are structurally unsound," he said. "People have pulled down all the floors and are using the houses as an escape route.

"It's a sheer drop from roof to ceiling, but there are boards that only this group knows about that lead from one property to another. If they are being chased by the police, they go in one property and through all the others."

Mr Tuffs said that the problem has escalated despite repeated complaints to the council over the past 12 months.

He said: "I don't think the council has a policy for anti-social behaviour. They have allowed an unruly group to cause mayhem in the community."

Mr Tuffs has lodged an appeal with the local authority ombudsman, and plans to write to Tony Blair to complain about the council's inaction.

Lead councillor for community safety, Dave McLuckie, said: "We can confirm there have been issues of anti-social behaviour.

"These issues have been managed by Cleveland Police and the council, and the police have made a number of arrests."