Residents left terrified as gang of 40 men had food fight in quiet residential street

Houses and cars were pelted with eggs as a 40-strong gang of grown men took part in a food fight in the middle of a quiet residential street. About 10 cars were said to have pulled up in Westhoughton, near Bolton in Greater Manchester, at about 12.30am on Thursday morning before dozens of men got out and pelted each other with food and rubbish. The men, who are believed to have been on a stag do, also threw eggs at houses and left rubbish strewn all over the street. Terrified residents, who said they did not understand what was going on, called the police twice. Neighbours woke up to food carnage in the street, and professional council cleaning teams had to attend.



Frances Pye, 49, said: “We didn’t know what was going on. They were speaking a different language so it was difficult to understand what was happening, and we didn’t know if they were arguing or laughing, they were making such a noise. Eggs were thrown at houses. My nine-year-old son said he wouldn’t go to bed until the police came. The police came, but did not move the people on first time, and they were called again and came later. These were adults, mid-20s and maybe older. We were scared in our own homes. I told my son to come away from the window in case they started targeting my house." She added: “The mess was strewn in the streets - there was flour, eggs, cornflakes, toilet roll and even a bikini top."

Keith Wilfred-Barlow, 56, said: “We don’t mind people having a good time, but this beggars belief. Residents, particularly children were scared. This is a family estate.” Residents contacted local councillor Martyn Cox the following morning, and he said residents’ misery was compounded by the lack of police action. He said: “We have the registrations of the cars and have taken photographs which will be passed on to the police. This behaviour is intolerable - it upset children and residents. The first thing was to get the street cleaned up, but this is criminal behaviour. It is now up to the police to provide a proper response. So many residents feel let down. I was told they were covering themselves with food, throwing it at each other. We don't know what they were doing.”



A Bolton Council spokesman said: "We were contacted by a number of local councillors and we sent out a crew to clean up the rubbish.” Police said the men were on a stag do, and, after the matter was reported to them, police "dispersed" them. PC Paul Griffiths from the Westhoughton neighbourhood policing team said: “This was a one-off incident that was a group of men fooling around rather than any kind of violent behaviour, but I can fully understand residents are upset this kind of disruptive activity has taken place on their doorsteps, causing distress to families at a time when they would all have been in bed. We take acts of anti-social behaviour seriously and have carried out a lot of work to tackle anti-social activity in this area, so it is highly regrettable this incident has occurred. However, enquiries are ongoing into this matter to identify a number of vehicles that were involved."