RESIDENTS of a crime-ridden seaside town have revealed gangs of yobs and drunks have made them too scared to leave their homes at night.

The once sleepy resort of Ingoldmells is three miles from the nearest manned police station in Skegness.

Locals say their McDonald's restaurant has more members of staff than the area has bobbies on the beat.

They say they are being targeted by yobs and travelling criminals looking for easy pickings.

Older residents say crime used to be non-existent in the resort and families flocked there year after year to enjoy the peaceful surroundings.

But cuts to full-time police officers combined with cheap booze have being blamed for the village experiencing more than its fair share of violent crime – including rape and murder.

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Some locals say they have to be home by teatime before drunken yobs who have been binge drinking all day begin to prowl the streets.

Gary Reynolds, 68, said: “The police have their work cut out dealing with the idiots coming here for holidays who end up drunk and fighting.

“I do not go out in the evening. We like to be home by 6 or 7 o’clock before the trouble makers come out.

“We see police cars going up and down all the time dealing with problems everywhere. These yobs are paying £2.20 a pint. So they are sitting in the bar getting blitzed all day. Then they come out to cause trouble."

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Mrs Elaine Stevenson, 66, said "strange things" were common.

She added: “My son in law left the front door unlocked one night and my daughter came home to find him fighting with a burglar.

“We had two young lads knocking on the door the other night wanting money for a taxi to get to Mablethorpe.

“They claimed to have no money but they also claimed neither of them had a mobile phone and we knew that was lie because all young people have them.”

Mr Peter Steel, 67, who lives on the outskirts of the town, said: “I am just glad I live in an area where you have to be older than 50 to buy a property.

“I would not like to live closer to some of the rougher areas I have heard about. This used to be such a nice area. But there is a lot of crime here now.

“I blame a lot of it on all the drug activity in the area. I know one woman who could not even leave her scooter parked outside a house because they would steal the battery out of it.”

John Evans, 70, a member of Caravan Park Watch, which was founded in the area and has now been rolled out nationally, said crime prevention advice had actually reduced static home break ins.

He said: “My main worry at the moment is that they are talking about drastically reducing the number of Police and Community Support Officers.

“The PCSOs are out and about all the time and they know their patches. The force claims they are replacing them with regular full time police officers.

“But I would like to know which apple tree they are going to pluck these offices from since the PCSOs were supposed to supplement them in a more cost effective way.”

Kevin Bowdrey,  66, said: “I could not believe it. Having just said I had not seen much local crime me and the wife were going to Tesco Express when this bloke came running out the front with a basket full of stolen food. He legged it around the corner and got clean away.”

Local café owner Keryl Hunt, 62, said: “Crime is definitely getting worse. We have had robberies and rapes and a man stabbed to death just up the road outside a kebab shop.

“Only the other day there was a fight right outside the cafe. These men took their shirts off and started scrapping in broad daylight.

“There were kids present and we had to bring them inside because they were scared. There were three or four people fighting. After going at it they ended up shaking hands and walking away.”

Colleague Maureen Pullan, 73, added: “I agree it's getting worse. There have been a lot of changes around here and not for the better. People are getting more and more worried.”

Another local café owner Donna Brudenall, 61, added: “The biggest problem is that although we have a police station it is not manned.

“There are more people working in McDonald’s here than there are police officers. We have had a couple of murders here over the last few years and a couple of rapes.”

Sandra Wilson, 76, who works in the same café,  said: “I have lived in the village all my life and crime is getting worse.

“A friend of mine has a caravan and woke in the middle of the night to find a man standing over her wearing a hood at 3am.

“It is definitely putting off people coming here on holiday. We used to get a lot more families. It used to be the same people coming year after year but it has totally changed now.

“When I was a little girl 60 years ago there was a full time bobby who lived in a police house in the village and as soon as there was a problem he was straight out dealing with it.”

Her colleague Tracey Thomas,  56, said: “It is getting worse. There are too many skanks coming here for holidays. It is not local people.

“They pinch a car over in Nottingham and come here to do all sorts because they know they will get away with it because the nearest manned police station is in Skegness.

“You call them about a problem, and by the time they get here, the people involved have gone.”

The Sun Online has contacted Lincolnshire Police for comment.

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