ANGRY residents have raised concern over the use of off-road vehicles in the woods around Aberangell.

At a meeting with the police, residents in Aberangell say they are being terrorised and accuse motorbikers and quadbikers of breaking padlocks allowing farm animals to escape, threatening locals, driving on public roads without helmets or insurance, and even “barbecuing a sheep”.

In a bid to tackle the issue Dwyfor Meirionnydd MP Liz Saville Roberts organised a meeting with several organisations and local residents to discuss what could be done to curtail the “intimidating and highly reckless behaviour” in the Dyfi Forest.

Representatives from North Wales Police, Dyfed-Powys Police, Natural Resources Wales, local councils, the NFU, FUW, Powys Council, and Gwynedd Council attended the high-powered meeting, held last Thursday, 8 November, which was chaired by the Plaid Cymru MP.

Police and crime commissioners Arfon Jones (North Wales Police) and Dafydd Llywelyn (Dyfed-Powys Police) were also present.

Barry and Carole Mortimer, who live in the village and own land nearby, told the assorted officials they tired of the relentless abuse of his community.

“It’s always been a problem but it’s gotten worse and we’ve been three or four years trying to sort it out,” they stated.

“We get big groups in transit vans – sometimes as many as 13 vans at once, sometimes even with a car transporter – coming into the village and causing havoc.

“They flout the law brazenly, they don’t wear helmets, they trespass on farmers’ land, they carry angle grinders to cut off locks and gates, they drive at high speed, they don’t have insurance, they use foul and abusive language and they threaten violence to anyone who tries to stop them.

“There’s a big crowd that comes down from Liverpool every few weeks but it’s not just them, it’s a problem every single weekend.

“We’ve been told to report it to the police but when we do we’re told there’s no one available and it’s just so frustrating.

“It is only a matter of time before tempers flare or somebody gets knocked over and get seriously hurt.”

The assembled police officers and commissioners admitted there had been a “gap in rural policing” on the borders between North Wales Police and Dyfed-Powys Police’s jurisdictions but now that the force’s two rural crime teams were working together to make sure all residents would feel protected.

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