Residents living in a trouble-hit park are calling for action after yobs repeatedly fly-kicked their front doors over five months.

Some living in Dane John Gardens, Canterbury, are pleading for faulty streetlights to be fixed to help deter youths from pounding on their doors.

Doorbell footage sent to KentOnline shows one youngster charging at a door and launching an airborne kick.

Other people living in homes in and near the park have been left with damaged doors which do not close properly, with the kicking having gone on for about five months.

Dane John Gardens, which is lined with dozens of terraced homes, has a reputation for antisocial behaviour.

Jeff Coleman, who looks after a pal’s house in Dane John, shared the troubling footage of the fly-kicking yob.

“The video shows him running and doing a fly-kick into the door, which has a scuff mark on it,” the 52-year-old said.

“Seeing the way he kicked it, it is amazing it did not fall through.

“The house has cameras everywhere and it is alarmed so I do not know what the kids are thinking.

“They are terrorising people.

“If someone was asleep in the home at the time, they would have s*** themselves.”

This particular incident happened at 8.15pm on Sunday, January 14.

Other footage shared with KentOnline shows other youngsters also having a go at banging on the door.

Mr Coleman believes the lights would serve as a deterrent if they were fixed.

“The park is not safe anyway and if you can’t see what you’re doing, it is very unsafe,” he added.

“I told the council it is dark and it feels unsafe but nothing has happened.”

Resident Glenn Bowman says youngsters kicking doors has been an issue over the past five months.

“It is about admiration and showing off that you can mess with people in their homes,” the 72-year-old said.

“It is upsetting as the bell is rung at 9.30pm, we get the door kicked when we have company and the door is now dislocated so I will have to refit as we can barely open it anymore.”

Mr Bowman says he feels safe in Dane John and argues it is “not a bad place”.

“But it is really bad the lights have been out for four months,” he added.

“If someone starts being beaten up or is raped, it will not show up and nobody is going to see it. It is really dangerous.”

A KentOnline investigation in 2022 revealed 100 crimes had been committed in the beauty spot between 2020 and 2021, including 12 rapes or sexual assaults against women.

And residents have long complained of being disturbed by noise, vandalism and drug-use, especially at weekends as clubbers leave late-night premises.

Friends of Dane John Gardens chair Amanda Browne said: “The problem with this park is if it was like the others in Canterbury, it would be closed at night and nobody would be walking through it.

“But for the moment it is open.”

City council bosses took the decision last year to shut the five main gates to Dane John Gardens in Canterbury between 10pm and 4am on Fridays and Saturdays following a successful trial.

Ms Browne added: “During the day, it is safe and summer is lovely. There are lots of families coming through here.

“It does not help when there are spaces created that are dark. It needs the council to sort it out.”

A city council spokesman says the authority apologises to residents for the lighting issues and is working to get them repaired “as soon as possible”.

"Many of the lights are quite old and harder to fix and we often have to secure additional permissions if digging is required when repairing them due to the park's status as a scheduled ancient monument,” he said.

"And unfortunately, two of them have been assessed as damaged beyond repair.

"In the longer term, we have plans to overhaul the lighting in the Dane John as part of our Levelling Up Fund story gardens project in the park, with work scheduled to begin later this year."

This relates to a formal bid for a £20 million share of the government's Levelling Up cash pot to help fund a series of schemes in Canterbury.