AN accident is waiting happen after illegal quad bikers began using an urban park to ride their machines, residents claim.

Teenagers wearing masks and scarves have been roaring around a park and in woods off Alandale Road, Bradley, close to a children’s playground.

And local residents say the dangerous bikers began to flock to the area after they were denied access to land they had been using at Grange Moor.

Diane Simpson, who lives on nearby Fallow Croft, said youths aged between 14 and 19 were tearing around the fields and woods near homes, often late at night.

She said: “You can be walking and then suddenly a quad or a dirt bike will come bursting out of the bushes.

“Young children are playing there and people are walking their dogs.

“It’s an accident waiting to happen.

“They all cover their faces so we’ve no idea who they are, and they don’t wear helmets.

“The police have made an effort but it’s very hard for them to do anything about it.

“The only thing that can be done is find them another area they can use safely or stop them all together and take their bikes off them.”

Community leader and Kirklees Council Liberal Democrat candidate for Ashbrow, Manjit Singh, said he had received several complaints from local residents.

He said: “They’re frightened they might kill somebody or run over somebody.

“We’ve complained so many times and we’ve written to the council.

“I’ve talked to some of the bikers and they said the council took their place at Grange Moor away from them and they have no where to go.

“It’s time the council does something to give them another area so there can be a safe place for them and so the residents are safe.”

But a spokesman for Kirklees Council said the bikers were mistaken.

He said: “The council has never operated an official venue for quad bikes and we would ask people not to use quad bikes in our local parks.”

It is thought the off-road facility at Grange Moor is opposite The Kaye Arms and is privately run and is only opened for a limited number of race events.