ANGRY residents are calling for an alleyway to be blocked off to traffic after joyriders twice drove down it at high speed.

Emily McConnell of Spindle Croft, Farnworth says everyone is worried sick that a child will be killed unless urgent action is taken.

About a dozen youngsters, one of them her 10-year-old son John, play in the alleyway and and ride their bikes along it.

In the past few weeks two cars have been driven along it by joyriders attempting to escape from police .

The alley runs behind York Street and Spindle Croft and provides a pedestrian route between the two.

Both are quiet cul-de-sacs and many children live in the area.

There is a climbing frame and slide at the York Street end and children as young as two regularly play on it. There is a concrete pillar at that end but a car can still squeeze through into the alley and emerge on Spindle Croft.

Emily said the joyriders have used the alley late at night but worries that it will be used in the day now car thieves know about it.

She said: "Children have been playing in the alley during the day in the school holidays. Someone could be killed by a car travelling along it at high speed.

"I was walking home one night recently and a neighbour told me that if I had walked along the alleyway five minutes earlier I would have been hit by a car. There are 6ft fences on either side and there is not enough room for a person and a car.

"Another pillar needs to be placed on York Street to stop cars getting through. And another should be placed at the Spindle Croft end.

Residents submitted a petition to Bolton Council calling for the alleyway to be blocked off.

A spokesman for Bolton Council said: "Miss McConnell should contact Director of Planning and Engineering Ray Jefferson as soon as possible. Our officers will then be able to investigate the situation quite quickly and decide on a course of action."

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