Caretakers at West Dunbartonshire high-flats have raised fears for their safety over plans to have them tackle more anti-social behaviour.

Their concerns, raised during last month’s West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) meeting, were further heightened recently by a confrontation outside a tower in Dalmuir.

Police confirmed the workers, aged 53 and 38, were subject to shouting and swearing outside Clydebank’s Dalmuir Court at around 5.35pm on April 9.

A 24-year-old man was banging on the driver’s side of a WDC work van, and when approached by the caretakers, he became aggressive towards them.

Police attended and issued the man with a recorded police warning.

Council papers last month showed an £81,000 underspend for tackling anti-social behaviour and vacant posts were awaiting a “service restructure”.

Peter Barry, the council’s strategic lead for housing and employability, told the meeting caretakers could take on some anti-social behaviour duties.

He said: “We are not asking them to take on specific tasks - we’re asking them to be more flexible. Positive discussions are underway.”

Read more: Council demands it's not 'penalised' for carrying out changes to high-rises following Grenfell tragedy

But David Scott, a GMB convener, said last week’s incident was the sort of anti-social behaviour staff are concerned they will have to deal with.

He said: “We have to live and work with these people but they’re asking us to grass them in.”

Councillor Danny Lennie, who lives in the Dalmuir high-flats, said the abuse of caretakers came as no surprise.

A council spokeswoman said: “A review of anti-social behaviour and estate caretaking is ongoing and employees and trade unions are being consulted as part of this. We take a zero tolerance approach to abuse of our employees.”

All the latest news from Dumbarton and the Vale