The general consensus is that the situation did improve for a little while, but it now as bad as ever, with up to 20 or more young people gathering on occasions and not dispersing until midnight or later.

One lady who lives in the locality, but who declined to be named, said that the disruption now is as bad as it ever was.

"We used to get groups of young people who shouted swore, fought and generally caused mayhem, but after the matter was publicised through the Herald things calmed down a bit for a period of time.

"However, they are back again and their behaviour is as bad as ever.
"It is not unusual to see drunken teenagers actually fighting on the street and the noise at times is almost unbelievable."

And a mother alleges that the drunkenness is caused by adults buying alcohol for the under-age youngsters.

She explained: "My son came home in a drunken state the other evening and my husband and I prised out of him that he and his mates had asked someone standing outside a local pub to go to an off license and buy them alcohol.

"I can understand that the owners of these businesses are in a very difficult position. If an adult comes in and wants to buy a bottle of something of other, then he will not know that he or she will be passing it on to under-age drinkers.

"I know that he has gone to great lengths to prevent young people gaining access to alcohol and I think it is dreadful that an adult would be so stupid as to go and buy booze for these youngsters.
"There are often 15, 20 or more mucking about just outside the shop, and it is time something was done to move them on."

Inspector Donald Scobie told the Arbroath Herald: "That part of the town is obviously one of the busier areas both day and night.

"There were a couple of mid-evening fights there over last weekend and a few incidents when the nightclubs came out in the early morning. I will be looking at doing more pro-active work with the council noise nuisance team, taxi companies and licensing agencies in that area in respect of noise levels and people hanging about after they come out the pubs and clubs.

"The youth element are still in that vicinity, but hopefully the crowd that was causing the most bother over recent months is beginning to split up and go their separate ways."