Dangerous thugs are keeping Milton residents up all night by roaring down residential streets in loud quad bikes.

It is understood that the monster machines are being used by criminal gangs in the North of Glasgow leaving many residents fearful over speaking out.

Local Councillor Billy McAllister has been inundated with complaints from residents who are being kept up all night by the noisy machines.

And the noise level only increases when the four-wheeler quad bikes are driven in convoys featuring four or more people through the area.

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Councillor McAllister said: “They are out all night, keeping the neighbourhood up all night.

“People are fed up reporting them to the police. It is a disgrace we have no solution to solving the criminality in this area.”

Councillor McAllister believes that Police Scotland need to rethink their tactics over tackling the issue.

He explained a popular meeting point for the bikers is St Augustine’s playing fields and the area is surrounded by gates which could be used to trap those responsible.

Councillor McAllister said: “People are not using the playing fields because of the danger.

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“The people riding these bikes have no regards to health and safety.

“People in this area are being terrorised and can’t get peace to live.”

He added: “I have said many times to close the gates and they could trap them."

Those on the quad bikes can escape cops by speeding down many of the area’s lanes.

Councillor McAllister has over the years installed middle rails in some lanes as a deterrent.

But even this measure has not put the riders using the quad bikes off.

Councillor McAllister said: “This has been going on for years but the problem seems to have got worse recently.

“We have had an increase in quad bikes rather than a decline.

“People living here are scared to report those responsible because they know it is criminal gangs.”

Chief Inspector Ross Allan, who is area commander for Glasgow North, accepted that there is an issue with quad bikes in Milton.

He said: “Quad bikes are an issue for us. We are using a lot of resources with our partners to identify and trace those responsible for using quad bikes.

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“I have to say it is a dangerous activity. We recently had a child injured riding a quad bike We have been doing a lot of social media around the dangers of using quad bikes.”

He added: “We would ask again any member of the community who see persons using quads bikes to report it to us

“We will again engage and try and solve that problem."