EDITORIAL: Yobs on motorbikes are a menace to this city, it’s time to crack down on them

These days, an astonishing amount of crimes in Sunderland revolve around young men riding illegal dirt bikes

They steal, usually when it involves other people’s bikes, they destroy people’s property, and they ruin public fields and open spaces.

Recently, someone’s car in Ford Estate was smashed up by yobs on bikes, for no apparent reason.

They also ripped apart a field in Ryhope used for sports by young people.

It seems to be a craze amongst delinquent youths throughout not just Sunderland, but the whole of Britain.

Some of them even submitted their own videos to SGM in the past to get notoriety, pretending they were reporting crimes.

They are a menace to this city, and the police and local authorities do not seem to have the will or interest to stop or control them.

Here’s some simple things we believe can be done

1) Erect bike proof barriers and fences around all access points to sports fields, parks and public spaces, for example, steel swing gates that you can’t twist a bike around. You can lift a normal bike over these, but not a 100kg+ dirt bike.

2) Establish in a system of wardens and volunteers who look after and manage certain public spaces, perhaps amongst residents who live nearby, and can chase away the yobs and call the police when they arrive

3) Invest heavily in discrete drones to monitor neighbourhoods and relay scenes to police live in order to intercept them

4) Write to your local MP to encourage them to lobby for legal restrictions on the sale and distribution of these bikes at a national level to curb young men’s access to them. For a start, making them also a licensed product.