YOUNG pranksters are putting their lives at risk by playing with electricity boxes in an area of Yate.

Mindless teenagers have plagued people living in Birkdale, Stanshawes Drive and the estates around King Edmund Community School by switching off their outdoor electricity supplies.

One resident, a single mother with two small children, has had her box turned off 13 times since October last year.

She believes she has been targeted because the electricity box outside her rented home in Birkdale is not locked.

"It is always in the evening and has been when I am watching television with my children," said the woman, who asked not to be named in fear of more problems.

"I then have to leave my children in the dark to go outside and turn the box back on. They are scared and I am not happy at all.

"It has got to the point where I am thinking do I really want to stay living around here?"

She said she had put a padlock on the box but it had been cut.

She added: "I just want these kids to understand that it is not funny and what they are doing is scaring people."

Andrew Barrow, spokesman for E-ON electricity suppliers, said: "You wouldn’t put your finger in a plug socket so why mess around with electricity supplies?

"There are obvious risks of electrocuting yourself and 240 volts in a domestic supply could cause serious injury plus the disruption to this poor lady and the confusion and worry this kind of thing causes.

"The safety advice is clear, even if you know what you are doing you have to take care around electricity but if you don’t know what you are doing it is very dangerous."

He said residents could be using life-saving equipment such as dialysis machines and oxygen cylinders.

Sgt Adrian Fallows, of Chipping Sodbury Police Station, said: "This is criminal damage and children will be arrested if they are caught.

"If other people are suffering from the same thing or witness any similar behaviour please contact us.

"Obviously we are keen to catch the perpetrators and we will be carrying out high profile patrols in the Sunningdale and Birkdale areas.’ Anyone with information should call Avon and Somerset Police on 0845 456 7000 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.