YOUNG people who hang out near Poole Bus Station have hit back after being called threatening and unsociable and accused of giving the town a bad name.

In a letter printed in the Daily Echo earlier this month a resident wrote of her “disgust” at seeing young people gathered on the grassy banks either side of the pedestrian underpass between the bus station and the Dolphin Swimming Pool concourse.

Comparing them to “a swam of ants on a hill with their black hoodies and massive jeans”, she described them “heavy petting, smoking and littering the place”.

THE ANT HILL MOB

Bournemouth Echo: ant hill mob This was the headline given to the original letter by our sub- editors – a play on the writer’s description of the young people – and has been adopted by the teenagers to refer to themselves.

The Ant Hill Mob is the name of characters from the classic cartoon Wacky Races – seven gangsters, Clyde, Danny, Kurby, Mac, Ring-A-Ding, Rug Bug Benny, and Willy, who drove a 1920s sedan called the Bulletproof Bomb.

She objected to a youth worker van that visits the area each week, calling it a waste of her tax, and asked: “When on earth are parents going to take responsibility for their kids?”

The letter has provoked a strong reaction on the Echo website – including from some of the teenagers and their parents.

Tessa, from Poole, said: “None of us would hurt anyone and I can’t see how any of us are doing any harm if were sitting on a hill talking.”

While AmberTheKitty, Poole said: “We have done nothing to hurt you, and if you actually took the time to speak to us, then I think you’d find that the majority of us are actually rather polite individuals.”

One parent spoke of their straight-A student son, adding: “Being part of the ‘Ant Hill’ Mob is clearly not having a bad effect on him academically. So I will encourage him to get out there continue to enjoy being an individual.”

The Echo also received a letter signed by a number of the “Ant Hill Mob” which said: “People shouldn’t be threatened by us – we are generally nice people.”

It adds: “We don’t mean to cause discomfort to the surrounding public, but we shouldn’t be judged simply on the clothes we choose to wear.”

The group also asked not to be judged by the actions of a small minority who “may give young people a bad name”.