Vandals who have tormented residents are to be targeted by a new "zero tolerance" policy.

Adur Council surfed the internet for advice on dealing with vandals and has now pledged to adopt tactics used in Toronto, Canada, where authorities are boasting a complete clean-up.

The council has drawn up an action plan to combat a spate of vandalism in Shoreham, where residents say they have been plagued by reckless teenagers who throw stones at windows, smash up bus stops, and scrawl their gang names on walls.

The Beach Primary School, Shoreham footbridge, Adur Council's Ashcroft residential home and scores of public walls and telephone cable boxes have been vandalised or covered in the youths' nicknames, known as "tags".

One resident said he had come close to moving out of his home of 15 years because he had felt powerless to stop youths from tormenting him and his wife.

The retired builder, aged 67, who did not wish to be named for fear of retribution, has had stones and eggs thrown at his cottage windows in Kingston Lane and graffiti scrawled on the side of his home.

He said at least twice a week, one of the youths would bang unexpectedly on his window, making his wife jump with fright.

He said: "We try and keep this place nice, not just for us but for future generations. Everybody likes this place, but what can you do?

"I'm of a mind to go out to them, not to hit them or anything, but to ask them what they think they are doing. I'm not scared, but some of them are big enough to have a go back.

"I think anything the council can do would be marvellous."

Pensioner William Bradshaw, of Kingston Lane, blames the police for not doing enough to deter the vandals.

He said: "When they do catch them they say they are going to write to their mums and dads and say what naughty boys they've been.

"What is the good of that? They should say you have got to go a young offenders institution for two years but people say if you do that they will come out criminals.

"If that is the case, send them back in again. They are an absolute pest."

"There's an old boy across the road, in his Eighties, and I've seen them camp out in his driveway, drinking and smoking. When they've gone, they have just thrown their beer cans in his garden."

Councillor Ronn Dunn says the authorities in Toronto claim their policy of zero tolerance has achieved a total clear up and the council hopes to get similar results when it launches its Clean Up Adur campaign in March.

"We surfed the web to find out what other places have done to tackle the problem. We picked this up and we got something from Toronto.

"Over there they have done things like, putting up trellises and growing creeping plants or bushes up them. The idea is that they can't spray if they can't get to the wall.

"We are asking retailers to remove spray cans from display, as they do with glue, because apparently a lot of cans get stolen.

"We want to spray telephone boxes with anti-graffiti paint and we are asking residents to call our hotline to report any graffiti they see so we can get it cleared quickly. Apparently, if you remove it quickly, it acts as a deterrent."

A working party has already been set up and is expected to hold its first meeting in two weeks.

Councillors will work with the police on the action plan and are to discuss their ideas via a police consultative group meeting.

Another idea is to ask a group of 15 and 16-year-old youths to make a video to emphasise the distress which people suffer through vandalism.

The film would show how much money is spent on cleaning up after vandals and how this money could be better spent on services for young people.