A councillor is calling for people to be properly compensated after a mob of up to 150 teenagers "terrorised" a neighbourhood - jumping on cars, smashing windscreens and reportedly stabbing the bonnets with knives.

The youths went on the rampage in Kitchener Road, Strood, after reportedly being turned away from a house party which they were not invited to.

Now Cllr Zoe Van Dyke (Labour and Co-operative), who represents Strood North and lives on the road, has called a public meeting to discuss how the "unacceptable" incident was handled.

She said: "It was chaos, there was shouting, they were damaging cars all down the road. There were people jumping on the bonnets and roofs of cars, smashing windscreens and kicking wing mirrors off.

"I discovered there was a party at the top of the road for a 16-year-old's birthday and she'd invited around 20 people, but two of the boys she'd invited had put the details on Snapchat, hence all these people turning up.

"I've spoken to her since and she said initially 20 to 30 people tried to come into the house and her grandfather got them to leave but as they were leaving there were more and more people coming up the road."

She said the incident "terrorised her neighbourhood".

Cllr Van Dyke estimates there was somewhere between 100 and 150 teens rampaging the roads, and that they looked about 14 to 17 years old, though some may have been older.

She said she and other neighbours called the police.

The 66-year-old told KentOnline: "There were two officers that came in a car who were very young and didn't get out, which I don't disagree with because I think if they did then they would have been at a great risk as the crowd was mad by then.

"It was a good 20 minutes before any more police turned up, which means that myself and four or five women were trying to hold the crowds back by persuasion.

"Not only were we trying to hold back the crowds, but we were trying to get men whose vehicles were damaged and wanted to run people over to go back into their houses – so we were doing some crowd control between us.

"I'm 66 and it's not acceptable. There was an awful lot of damage as well as distress for elderly people."

Cllr Van Dyke did a door-to-door knock in the coming days, and was told elderly people and children had been very frightened by the events.

She estimates the incident started just before 8pm on October 30 and lasted until after midnight.

She also said that one of the boys was waving around a toy gun and some of them had knives and were stabbing the cars with them.

"It was lucky that no people were seriously hurt," She said. "The aggression was heightening.

"My problem now is with the police because the recompense that people will get depends on the categorisation, and in anyone's book I think 150 people rampaging streets and smashing things up is a public order offence.

"But the police are refusing to accept that so they're describing it as a 'party that went wrong'.

"My neighbourhood was terrorised by that event so I don't accept that, but the implication is that it will affect people's ability to claim on their insurance as they may not get paid out at all and most certainly will have to pay their excess.

"If it was treated as a public order offence then that wouldn't happen – people deserve at the very least to be properly compensated."

Police have confirmed they were called to the disturbance on the road, linked to a party held at a residential address.

A spokesman said: "Significant resources were sent to the area in response to reports that a large number of people were engaged in anti-social behaviour in the street.

"Police attendance was supported by dog handlers and specialist officers from a tactical operations unit.

"Assistance was also provided by officers from the British Transport Police to prevent further issues as groups made their way to the train station."

Two 16-year-old boys were arrested and taken into custody in connection with assault and possession of an imitation firearm.

Inquiries are ongoing in relation to allegations of criminal damage to several parked vehicles in and around the Kitchener Road area, as well as other offences including shoplifting.

'This is further evidence of the failure of Kent Police to acknowledge the real concerns of Strood residents who were affected by this distressing event'

Cllr Van Dyke will be holding a meeting on Thursday at the Medway Archives Centre in Bryant Road, Strood, from 7pm to 9pm, to discuss the incident.

Residents are welcome to attend and encouraged to express their concerns.

When asking for police to attend the meeting, she received a reply from the force stating: "I regret that I see no significant benefit in attending a public meeting in Strood at the present time.

"The recent disorder was an isolated incident and there is no significant likelihood of a recurrence.

"As such I will not be able to offer reassurance around steps to prevent further issues, other than our normal policing business."

Cllr Van Dyke said: "This is further evidence of the failure of Kent Police to acknowledge the real concerns of Strood residents who were affected by this distressing event, including financial losses in a period of extreme austerity."