VANDALISM of cars at one Manunda street has become so bad residents are parking their cars overnight in neighbouring suburbs.

Cars parked in McCormack St during the past six months have suffered attacks from vandals using bricks, rocks and chains to smash windscreens and windows.

Pictures: Vandalism in McCormack St

In the latest attack on August 26, two cars and a caravan were targeted with all three vehicles sustaining at least one broken window.

Resident Lukas Zalkalns said the situation was so bad, he and his partner often drove their second car to his parents' home at Redlynch for the night, returning to Manunda in their other car and locking it in the garage.

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He said residents living in unit complexes along the road were battling to secure off-road parking because leaving a car on the side of the road overnight was too great a risk.

"I don't want my partner getting out of her car at night," Mr Zalkalns said.

"There have been times when we have left our car at my parent's place at Redlynch. It is a lot safer there.

"It is a fight to get your car in the driveway each night because no one wants to leave their car on the street. But sometimes it doesn't make any difference because they will smash your car in the driveway too."

Mr Zalkalns said he suspected a group of teenagers was responsible for the vandalism, which had been getting progressively worse throughout the year.

"The last one was pretty bad," he said, adding the street was now permanently littered with granules of shattered glass.

"They just went up and down the street smashing windows and then they ended up fighting each other."

Cairns district crime prevention officer Sen-Constable Heidi Marek said police had been focusing intelligence-based patrols in the area and would continue to do so to try to stamp out the vandalism.

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