A mob of around 14 teens have been terrorising a street in Goodmayes for six years by selling drugs and throwing acid, it has been claimed.

The residents of Forterie Gardens spoke up at a Local Forum meeting, chaired by Redbridge Council leader, Cllr Jas Athwal.

Speaking at Mayfield School, in Pedley Road, the residents, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals, said the situations was not “your average 16-years-olds sitting on a wall smoking a cigarette”.

“On a daily basis they are offering drugs, shouting sexual abuse at females, surrounding residents and the police have confiscated big knifes from them,” said one neighbour.

“Halloween was like a riot, we all called the police but it took two hours for them to get there.

“One neighbour had acid thrown in their face – does someone need to die? How bad does it get before someone responds?”

The residents spoke of how the youths were intimidating, frightening and dramatically impacting their quality of life and asked why these children were not at school.

“Older residents wont go out to the Parkside Community Centre as they are too scared,” added the neighbour.

“I get that these thing things can’t change over night but I want to know are we looking at weeks, months or years? We can’t go on like this.”

A council officer said staff were aware of the issues and the “case is on the list” at weekly tasking meetings.

“We visited licensing premises nearby to make sure they are not selling alcohol to them, but enforcement of drugs lies with the police,” he added.

“The police have to catch them with the drugs. It will take a planned operation to do that.”

The officer said they would do all they can to help the police, but ultimately it was their responsibility.

Cllr Atwal admitted that he had been aware of the problem and that he had visited the road on numerous occasions with other council officers.

“We should, for two or three weeks, flood the area or serve orders that the youths can’t keep coming back,” he said.

“This is going to get worse before it gets better but we need to make it an urgent issue.”