Two rival gangs squared off with knives outside Croydon Youth Court.

Police were called after up to six youths, believed to be from north Croydon, started fighting outside the main entrance to the Barclay Road court on September 22.

A court source said: “One of the groups of lads turned up to get a boy who was in Croydon Youth Court.

“They just started going for each other outside of the youth court and one of the boys came running in to hide.

“We could see them holding knives so we called the police, but it took them 20 minutes to turn up.”

A few hours later one of the rival gangs arrived back at court and waited outside for a youth who was facing charges inside.

Police were called a second time after several of the youths arrived back at court in different clothes.

However, security guards saw through their attempt at disguising themselves and called police again.

Before officers arrived, four youths made off in the direction of Lloyd Park and 15 minutes later police arrived again, looked over the CCTV footage of the fight, then drove off to look for them.

A girl who saw the fight said: “It was madness.

“I just tried to stay out of the way to avoid being hurt.”

A spokesman for Croydon Police said: “We can confirm police were called to Croydon Magistrates’ Court at 1pm on September 22, following reports of a disturbance at the location.

“No trace of suspects upon police arrival at the scene. There were no arrests.”