A buzzing device which has cleared Sussex streets of teenage gangs has been banned over health and safety fears.

Sussex Police has swatted the "Mosquito", which had been working wonders around the county by dispersing gangs of youths in antisocial behaviour hotspots.

The force had to withdraw the vital crimefighting tool - praised for its amazing ability to break up groups of yobs - because the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) has refused to give it its official approval.

The device, also dubbed the "chavbuster", is designed to send young people scarpering by emitting a sound only people under 20 can hear.

It has been successfully employed in nuisance areas including outside shops, leisure facilities and community buildings at sites including Yapton, near Arundel, Bognor and Crawley.

Forces across the country have been using the device but now ACPO - the organisation which represents the top police officers across England and Wales - has refused to approve the equipment.

Sussex Police will not say how many Mosquito systems it has been using or where but has now ditched the technology after ACPO guidance - to the disappointment of officers and residents.

One Mosquito, in Yapton, was only installed a few weeks ago. Each device costs about £600.

Roger Elkins, Arun District Council's cabinet member for community safety, said the device was used to keep young people away from places where they could injure themselves, such as buildings where they had been climbing on roofs.

He said: "It is disappointing. It has been useful in areas where there have been problems.

"It is another intervention we can use to deal with issues that may cause antisocial behaviour and where there may have been criminal damage."

Inspector Mark Hammond, who is based in Littlehampton, said the force would not use the machines again until ACPO said it was happy with information provided by the companies who make them.

But he added: "There is no proof they damage health and we have never had any complaints."

Crawley Inspector Jon Brydon said: "It is a shame because they were a great deterrent."

Compound Security Systems, which invented the Mosquito, has been told by ACPO that more information about the equipment is needed before senior officers can back its use - despite the device having gone through tests by medical, health and safety, scientific and environmental consultants - including NHS staff.

Simon Morris, the commercial director of the firm, said: "Taking the Mosquito out is a sheer act of lunacy.

"The cost saving and benefits are huge. Every time a police car is sent out to disperse a group of teenagers, it costs £300. This happens hundreds of thousands of times a year."

Mr Morris has offered to provide ACPO with more information and to speak at their national conference in July.

Members of Arun Youth Council met with Sussex Police and the community safety team last week to discuss the Mosquito.

Outgoing chairman Simon Filler, 18, from Rustington, said: "Some of our members were very upset at the notion there was a device created to move young people on from certain areas.

"The police explained the criteria to put these devices is very strict but having been told about it, I am fairly happy with it."

The Co-op has hit on an alternative way to keep groups of youngsters away - by playing classical music outside stores in places such as Lancing and Brighton.

Dave Yorkshire, the manager of the shop in Warren Way, Woodingdean, Brighton, said: "Elderly people used to feel intimidated walking in to the store.

"We don't have it on all the time. As soon as they come up to the store we switch it on and five minutes later they go away."