YOBS torched a police van in a York street while officers were visiting a house only yards away.

The vehicle was set alight in Byland Avenue, off Huntington Road, at about 9.40pm last night as two officers were following up unrelated inquires at a home on the street.

Residents reported seeing someone hurl a firework into the North Yorkshire Police van before it sparkled and then erupted in a ball of flames. Dozens of teenagers gathered in the street to watch the blaze before police, in a massive show of force, descended on the area with up to eight vehicles and blocked the road.

One resident, who witnessed the fire, said: "I saw a group of lads on the corner then I saw a firework or something go in the van then there was lots of sparkling.

"Lots of people ran away. I thought it was going to blow, there were some right sparks coming off it.

"It was like a bonfire. The street was packed."

Margaret Allen, 50, of Middleton Road, Acomb, was visiting a friend in the street. She said she was "disgusted" by the attack.

She said: "You do not see anything like that in Acomb. I think it is disgusting. What if someone had been in the back of that van. They could have killed someone."

Another resident, who did not wish to be named, said: "Someone knocked on my door saying there was a van on fire.

"So I ran out and saw it blazing and hissing. It was a big fire. We heard all the tyres sizzling. There must have been about 50 or 60 people around it. I just think it gives the street a bad name. It is not something we want down here. It is hard enough to get the police down here as it is.

"It's hard enough to get them down here when anything is going off but when it is one of their own they come down in force."

Sergeant Lee Pointon, of North Yorkshire Police, said: "It's absolutely disgusting behaviour and we will do what we can to trace the offenders.

"There will be inquiries continuing around the neighbourhood."

A spokesman for North Yorkshire Police said one arrest had been made.