An Oxford housing association has become one of the first in the country to use an anti-social behaviour order to evict an unruly tenant.

Housing association officer Andrew Smith enters the squalid flat of Andrew West

Oxford Citizens Housing Association, which has 2,500 properties across the region, has promised to use the courts to crackdown on more nuisance neighbours who persist on behaving badly.

On April 28 Andrew West was thrown out of his flat in Blackbird Leys and banned from the estate for two years after making neighbours' lives a misery.

West, 44, who had lived at Jane Seaman Court in Shepherds Hill since 1997, was given an antisocial behaviour order after neighbours reported a catalogue of offences including noise disruption and a constant stream of noisy visitors to his flat.

Oxford County Court granted the housing association an ASBO last week after hearing West had caused thousands of pounds of damage to the flat. Police also raided his home suspecting it was being used as a drugs den.

Andrew Smith, Oxford Citizens Housing Association's operations director, said: "We have been concerned about the behaviour of this tenant and the effect on other residents.

"This will certainly not be the last time we use this power to clamp down on nuisance neighbours, particularly somewhere like Blackbird Leys, which has suffered from a difficult reputation over the years.

"He West was a persistent offender and had we just evicted him we would not have been able to keep him out of the area for the next two years.

"There are 3,500 families on the council waiting list wanting homes in Oxford. It's a difficult decision to evict someone, but this shows we will get tough on people when necessary."

On April 28, the Oxford Mail was allowed inside West's flat to see the squalor and damage, the repair bill for which is estimated to be more than £2,000.

Neither West nor his neighbours were at home when the eviction took place.

The flat, which costs £65 a week to rent, has now been boarded up with a steel door and will be refurbished before being let to someone else.

Mr Smith added: "I am really pleased that in working together we have managed to rid the area of this nuisance neighbour - all our residents should be assured that collectively we will take action against people that cause distress and give the area a bad name. It shows that by working together we can make a difference."

West's ASBO will remain in force until April 26, 2006, and means he is banned from entering Blackbird Leys and Greater Leys.

Steve Kilsby, neighbourhood services manager at Oxford City Council, said: "The city council is pleased the residents of Jane Seaman Court now have relief from this antisocial behaviour."