RESIDENTS have called on Bromley Council to stop youths staging their own demolition derby and torching the wreckage in a Chislehurst park .

Hooligans drive cars into Walden Recreation Ground via the public footpaths off Elmstead Lane and Victoria Road and use the vehicles "like dodgems".

Residents, who also complain about graffiti and arson attacks on bins, are urging the council to put up boulders around the park to stop car access to the ground.

Steve Hann, of Oakdene Avenue, who is a Lewisham police sergeant, said: "We had six vehicles there in just one week.

"It was like Beirut. The cars are bound to be stolen. They are used like dodgems and then set on fire.

"It will continue unabated because the police said they haven't got enough manpower to deal with it," he said.

"I'm a policeman and I know the way these kids think. They will do it again because they think it's fun."

A police spokesman said: "Nobody here knows anything about the car wrecking."

Councillor Joan Wykes, who represents the Chislehurst ward, said "remedial action" was needed "as soon as possible".

"Council officers have informed me they think that by putting in a barrier of posts across the access roads it could deal with the problem," she said.

"They will continue to monitor the problem but let us hope their solution is the right one."