THE firm behind a controversial sonic device that disperses teenage gangs and is banned from Scottish train stations insists the alarm is akin to "an old fashioned clip around the ear from a bobby on the beat".

Compound Security Systems, formed by former British Aerospace engineer Howard Stapleton, the inventor of the Mosquito device, believes it cannot be legally banned nationwide saying that it is meant to be "amazingly annoying".

Calls were made last week for a Scotland-wide ban after a Scottish Government-commissioned research from by the Scottish Youth Parliament and Young Scot found that youngsters felt that the devices - which are generally only heard by people under the age of 25 - were "ageist" and "discriminatory".

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It revealed that 85 per cent of youngsters who have been subjected to one of the Mosquito devices said it had left them in discomfort or had annoyed them.

SNP MSP Christina McKelvie said the research had added momentum to the campaign to ban Mosquito devices across the country.

But Simon Morris, one of the directors of Compound Security Systems said: "They can't ban it. It is perfectly legal. People, like councils, could ban it on their own property, but that is different.

"We are parents ourselves, we don't like making areas no-go areas. It's like an old fashioned clip around the ear from a bobby on the beat when you were a lad and I was a lad. It's a 'hoy, come on, that's enough that now and if you are not going to stop it we will take something further'.

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"I mean the comment from the kids is that they are annoyed by it. Well, yes, that's what it is designed to do. It is designed to be annoying. It is not designed to be painful."

The device is used to stop teenagers gathering had been installed at stations which are frequently targeted by marauding youths. But ScotRail said in November that it had banned the use of the anti-loitering device just months after one was introduced at Helensburgh Central station.

The company brought in the Mosquito device – which emits a loud alarm sound particularly sensitive to younger ears – in response to an escalation in incidents of anti-social behaviour, including attacks on the company's own workers.

But the firm said that after "thorough review" of the devices in place at Helensburgh Central and Hamilton Central stations, would be removed.

Last week's research report said a study of 725 young people found some expressed that these devices were "discriminatory and made them feel unwelcome in their communities".

A report for the Council of Europe in 2010 called for a ban, suggesting its use may breach human rights law.

But the Scottish Government which "continues to not support their use" acknowledges there were "a range of complex legal and constitutional considerations associated with both the restriction and ban of these devices".

Mr Morris said:"I think generally the reaction to it is over the top. The other side of the argument is that daily there are thousands of people in this country whose lives are being ruined by groups of teens who cause problems on a regular basis.

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"People are scared to approach a group of half a dozen or a dozen teenagers especially when they are rowdy. I wouldn't want to do it and the police don't want to know."

In the wake of the ScotRail ban, Morris pointed out that the devices were not designed to be active all the time.

"I think generally the reaction to it is over the top. The other side of the argument is that daily there are thousands of people in this country whose lives are being ruined by groups of teens who cause problems on a regular basis.

"People are scared to approach a group of half a dozen or a dozen teenagers especially when they are rowdy. I wouldn't want to do it and the police don't want to know.

"Late at night when there are hardly any trains running and it's dark and kids are congregating then maybe that's when they should be turned on," he said.

"But during the day when the station is busy it should only be used when one of the managers thinks that group is getting rowdy and decides he is not going to approach them because he could have a knife in the gut, or be punched in the face, or something, Then you can turn the Mosquito on for twenty minutes, the crowd disperses, turn it off again. That's how it is designed to be used. That's how we encourage people to use it."

The Scottish Mosquito research said that the devices were found at bus stations, outside shops, in town centres, outside schools and outside private residences.

It found that four out of ten experienced health effects for discomfort from encountering a device.

The study also found the devices had a " limited impact" in preventing young people from gathering with survey respondents saying they "did not perceive the devices to be effective" in deterring other young people from loitering.