I HAVE family who, until recently, had lived the bulk of their lives in our hometown of Darlington.

Three years ago, my brother and his wife were forced out of the home he was born in more than 65 years ago by the combined assault of "laissez faire" attitudes to the "crack house" across their street and their young mother neighbour who believed that effective child rearing could only be achieved when screaming like a banshee.

Their move to a warden-managed unit was soon followed by a welcoming committee of young louts who, over the next couple of years, verbally abused them, daubed their car with dog excrement, smashed headlights, windscreens, the house windows and generally made their lives unhealthy and hellish.

The outcome is that my family have now reluctantly, but thankfully, "escaped" from Darlington.

I realise their story is only "small potatoes" when viewed in the context of the savage behaviour in other parts of the UK, but it is a symptom of a deteriorating situation locally.

Darlington has spent heavily recently on "gussying" up the town centre. Time and money would surely be better spent on addressing the town's serious social issues before other pensioner families, too, become unwilling refugees.

Name supplied, Vancouver, Canada.