Library staff in Oswestry who have been subjected to ‘physical and verbal intimidation’ are calling for help to identify those responsible.

The team, based at Castle View, said the bad behaviour escalated sharply during the recent school half-term holidays and involved a group of youths.

Incidents included harassment of staff members, wing mirrors being kicked off their cars and an incident when a member of staff was blocked into a car park by the group.

One of the library staff members, who wished to remain anonymous, said that despite behavioural problems not being unusual, this is the worst behaviour the team has ever seen.

“This has been going on for around five weeks, but half-term was when the incidents got worse over the course of the week,” the individual said.

“It started off with warning the group about their behaviour, but we had to eject them.

“It then escalated beyond anything we could have imagined – the group broke wing mirrors off staff members’ cars, they were in and out of the library at closing time harassing the staff, they’ve cornered members of the staff in the car park and intimidated us.

“They then began climbing over the back wall, accosting the staff and then a serious incident on Sunday saw one of the staff members alone in the car park with a flat tyre.

They gathered around the car and set off one our burglar alarms which resulted in three police cars having to come and get the staff member out.”

The incidents have become so bad that library staff are having to leave work in pairs to make sure no one is alone.

They are also looking at employing private security at closing times to ensure there are no further incidents.

“It’s not fostering good morale here for the staff,” the staff member continued.

“Library staff are natural helpers, we want kids to realise they’re welcome but there is a code of behaviour that we expect them to follow – and that doesn’t include spitting on the floor.”

The staff member said that library workers are ‘welcoming and forgiving people that don’t ask for much’, but the recent behaviour has gone too far to ignore.

They added: “This group do not behave in a way that we can tolerate.”

The staff are now hoping to install more CCTV coverage around the library to help the police with any further incidents.

“The police can only act on what we have, but unfortunately our CCTV isn’t the best,” they added.

“The group wear the same things and it can be really difficult to recognise faces, particularly in intimidating circumstances.”

The team at Oswestry Library are now appealing for help and ask that anyone who sees any groups acting suspiciously to report them to police.

Oswestry Central PSCO Andrew Neeves said they know who the members of the group in question are, and that they are dealing with the incidents.

“We’ve had reported incidents of this group causing problems, and we are dealing with it,” he said.

“We’re advising people that if incidents like this occur, to call the police immediately.

“Sometimes with anti-social behaviour people tend to call half an hour after the incident has occurred.

“But to be in with the best chance of catching them we need to alerted at the time of the incident.”

Lezley Picton, Shropshire Council Cabinet member for leisure and culture, said: “We can confirm that staff at Oswestry Library have been verbally and physically intimidated by a large group of youths on a number of occasions.

“Shropshire Council takes any threat towards our staff very seriously and we will continue to work with the police and provide security to ensure their ongoing safety.”

Anyone wanting to report incidents to the police should call 101 or the anonymous Crimestoppers number on 0800 555 111.