VULNERABLE residents evicted from a homeless shelter in London Colney have disappeared, with the council admitting no knowledge of their whereabouts.

St Albans District Council closed Ridgeview in September this year, promising to resettle all of its 64 residents within the year.

But it has come to light that six residents evicted from the hostel between July and December have gone missing.

St Albans District Council's head of housing Karen Dragovic said: “Out of the 64 single residents at Ridgeview who required re-housing following the decision to cease lettings from 1 August 2008, 58 residents were rehoused.

“However, despite the efforts of staff at the hostel to work hard with the other residents to support them, their licences were terminated.

"Four were evicted between September and December 2008 for rent arrears and another was evicted in July 2009 following an incident which necessitated calling the police. One resident abandoned the property in October 2008.

"Having given him some time to return, we terminated his licence in November 2008. We do not know of the whereabouts of any of these six residents.”

The hostel has now been refurbished to accommodate students from the University of Hertfordshire.