Joyriders wrecked a wall put up in front of a house to keep a family's cars safe from vandals.

His Mum Mrs Carol Stimpson, 42, of Horspath Road, Cowley, Oxford, was left shaken when a car crashed into the wall outside her council house at 2.10am yesterday and smashed all 21 concrete panels put up a year ago.

And her son Colin, 14, was too tired to go to school as he was kept awake most of the night by the cars racing around outside.

Her daughter, Cathy Sheldon, of Greater Leys, said: "The road is in a disgusting state and they drove into our concrete wall. There are a few dents in one of the cars.

"One of our cars was torched in our own driveway a year ago so we blocked it all up. We put gates up too but they are still standing."

Mrs Stimpson is a childminder and the wall was also necessary to stop the three youngsters running out on to the road.

They were putting up a fence yesterday to prevent any accidents. Police said that three men ran off from the scene of the crash and had not yet not been caught.

Mrs Sheldon said: "Everyone was up all night because of the joyriding. My mum is shocked."

The area near the run-down maisonettes in Horspath Road has been troubled by crime in the past and residents have called for the flats to be demolished.

Joyriders sped around the road on three different occasions on Wednesday night before crashing their car.

One resident, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisals, told the Oxford Mail yesterday how she could hear swearing and shouting and see clouds of exhaust fumes.

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