Hundreds of residents are on secret Sussex council blacklists for bad behaviour.

Residents are on the lists for a range of reasons including physically assaulting staff, racial or sexual harassment, verbal abuse, deliberate self-harm or damaging property.

One council has more than 200 people on the list. Local authorities across Sussex have given their staff advance warnings about the past misbehaviour of residents on the cautionary contact lists.

The Sussex councils are not alone in producing such lists with other local authorities reported to hold details on residents who answer doors in the nude or pull faces in an aggressive manner.

Brighton and Hove City Council currently lists 249 residents on its register with entries dating back to May 2004.

More than 100 residents have been added in the past three years.

A Brighton and Hove City Council spokesman said: “Brighton and Hove City Council has a database, called the Clients of Concern Register, which aims to help ensure the health and safety of frontline staff who work with the public.

“People can be added to this register following a violent/aggressive incident involving a member of our staff.”

Hastings Borough Council said it had five residents listed on its register, including one woman and four men aged between 25 and 60, while Crawley Borough Council said there were 64 people on the council’s |caution register for a range of offences including verbal abuse, threats, intimidating behaviour, physical aggression, violence, weapons and dangerous animals kept at home.

The oldest addition to the register dates back to November 1998.

A Crawley Borough Council spokesman said: “It’s vital that our staff can undertake their duties without fear, intimidation or harassment.

‘Potential dangers’ “Having a register of instances where this has happened helps alert staff to potential dangers.

“The register is regularly reviewed and it’s normal practice to notify individuals placed on the register and give them the opportunity to appeal against the decision.”

A Horsham District Council spokeswoman said: “Any incidents which represent a risk or potential risk to staff, or where staff have been threatened, are reported to managers who then make an assessment of the severity and likely repeat.

“In turn they make a request to the contact with caution group, consisting of senior managers, who determine if the individual should be included on the register or not.

“In the case where an incident is considered sufficiently serious, the individual is written to with the details.

“The list is not publicly available and there are internal controls to prevent misuse and the continued inclusion of an individual is reviewed on a regular basis.”