Family barred from own home under Anti-Social Behaviour Act

The three-month closure order against the private house in the High Beveridgewell area of Dunfermline was granted by the town’s sheriff court under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act, following two years of noise and disruption caused by visitors.

Andrew Gordon and his son Phillip, 18, are now banned from the residence for three months.

The action came after neighbours had to suffer drinking, drug-taking and fights between youths who used the house while Phillip Gordon’s father was away. Behaviour at the house was said to have become steadily worse and its reputation as a base for youths from all over Dunfermline as a place to go to drink and take drugs grew over the past two years.

One neighbour, who asked not to be named, said: "It has just got steadily worse. The lad’s father was away a lot and it got the reputation as a place for teenagers to go.

"I don’t think he knew half of them, but he had 30 to 50 of them around there at some points. Sometimes the street would look like a football match had just come out at 11 o’clock at night. Then they would start smashing their Buckfast bottles and shouting abuse. There were even knives used at times during the fights.

"You would have them climbing on houses and scaffolding and screaming. One woman even had bottles thrown at her. This is normally a very quiet area, so hopefully this will be an end to it."

Bill Lawrie, the Fife Police Western Division superintendent, said the force had been left with no choice but to pursue the order. He said: "Persistent anti-social behaviour has a substantial negative impact on communities. This is the first closure order granted in the West Fife area under the new legislation."

The local councillor, Andy Brown, said: "I am pleased that this has been granted. At last the people who have suffered so much will get some respite."