RECKLESS bikers who ride around estates, school grounds and footpaths could have their machines confiscated.

Councillors at Woodhouse Close, in Bishop Auckland, are calling on police to take tough action against quad bikers and riders of unlicensed motorbikes who, they claim, are harassing estate residents and endangering school pupils.

Charlie Kay, the deputy leader of Wear Valley District Council, is asking senior officers to meet with him, fellow ward member David Wilson and representatives of schools and colleges in the area.

Councillor Kay said yesterday that the bikes were noisy and dangerous and causing a nuisance over a wide area, stretching from Woodhouse Close to Escomb, and even putting children at risk as they walked to school on a specially created path.

He said: "In other parts of the county, high-profile campaigns of targeting police resources to confiscate the vehicles from the perpetrators have proved successful and I think it is time a similar campaign is employed in our area.

"These perpetrators have little regard for the safety of others."

Keith Taylor, headteacher of Escomb Primary School, said that some parents had stopped using a specially created Safer Route to School path from estates on the edge of Bishop Auckland.

He said: "The bikers go really quickly and have no consideration for anyone else. It constitutes a real danger.

"We put a lot of effort into getting the path and now fewer parents are using it because of the bikes."

John Latcham, who lives in Harthope Grove, in the town, said the bikers' attitude was becoming more threatening.

He said: "They are telling me they know where I live and going past my house with two fingers in the air because they know I complain about them.

"We have had this problem for five years. They can stop one person on one bike and take it off them but there are plenty more. The problem is always bad but it will become worse during the summer."