No go Britain? South East

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Your reports

Waterlooville
Over the last 16 years up until 2003, vandals terrorised my family by burning the house and smashing car windows as well as several acts of verbal abuse. No-one was ever caught or punished for these crimes, and, even after a dispersal order was introduced, I am still TOO SCARED to go out, day or night, as I, as an overweight 16-year old feel THREATENED by things such as even a small 5 year-old boy shouting out "FATTY." I would rather STAY AT HOME THAN GO OUT AND HAVE THE ABUSE!

Bracknell
Lived in Bracknell or about 2 years now in a single flat on a part council part owned estate. Now Bracknell is well known for being a bit chavs (sorry) but its actual not that bad, there is too much litter droping but other then that I always feel safe. The Police respond the Council do a good job. I find that if you talk to the kids they turn out to be alright. I think people should confront kids (I do) if there is a problem stand up dont just complain. If its donr in the right way then its ok. I think the media (Daily Mail) have made people scared. as a kid I used to hand around too, and did the odd bad thing, but things have not got worse in my view, people just think that kids are bad and imigrants are bad but there not just becuase someone is not talking English does make them a criminal

Oxford
I live Magdalen Road in Oxford. The quality of life has deteriorated in my street because of the group of drunks that congregate here, there is graffiti everywhere, the land lords don't care who they rent too & the rubbish situation is totally disgusting. There is broken glass everywhere, yobs urinate in the street. 8 years ago when we moved here this did not happen.

Maidenhead
When I moved to Maidenhead in 2001 it was like a peaceful village. Now the centre of town has bar after bar and people from Slough and Reading visit regularly. The local youths are always hanging around the high street or down the many unlit alleys nearby. A couple of months ago some of them climed to a top of a building overlooking the high street and were throwing bricks and traffic cones at the people below. This country is in rapid decline. What kind of adults are we bringing up? My wife has to travel from Uxbridge to West Drayton on a bus that is now free to under 18's. They treat it like a youth club and often vandalise it or make the driver not stop at stops that have other youths there. Madness.

Fareham, Hampshire
I'm a single mum with three very young children and the teenage boys down our road keep having parties. The police do nothing, the council do nothing. Once they had a party and they where outside having a party with knives, the police where contacted and I got told that 'IF' the police where in the area they'd pop in - 2 hours later they turned up. They drop bottles in the road they wreak EVERYTHING. No body can have something nice at all. I've stopped my son from playing in the road with his friends cause the've made it dangerous. Everyones so down and fed up and no one can do anything.

Bedford:
I have lived in bedford for 7 years now, i moved onto the Brickhill estate. The whole estate is bad. My car has been stolen three times this year, the mother of three opposite sells dope to all the kids, I cant leave my home on a friday night because the kids takeover hunders of them smoking there drugs and drinking, 10 pound bottles of vodka which would kill even the alocholics which all congrgate outside, the local shops. Also only last week the local gang on the estate caused a riot which went untill 4 in the morning. 16 police officers where taken to hospital 2 will never work again.

Mitcham
I live in Mitcham, Phipps Bridge Estate. Since living in the Estate I have seen so much police within the area, then of any place I have been too. The area is quite, yet crime is unbelievable. I don¿t feel safe, because I see the police everyday, in the estate, and I wonder what¿s really going on in the area. Over the years and now, I have seen muggings, robbery, even stabbings on the estate. It¿s a very quite area, you will laugh if you saw it, but I don¿t get it, when I see police every day, from morning to evening. Its not a safe area, but its seem like it is.

Basildon:
I moved from Langdon Hills which was surposed to be a posh part of basildon, children between the ages of 7 and 14 systematicly throw stones at the houses, brake as many windows as they could on a regular basis, smashed cars and kept threatning any other children that didnt join in. It got so bad that I couldnt leave the house to walk, to the end of my road, 9 houses down to collect one of my sons from a friends house. I know other people in the area are haveing a very rough time of it, through the same kind of thing, I got so fed up replacing the windows all the time, towards the end I just left them boarded up so we could sit in the front of the house without being struck by flying bricks or stones. The really awful thing here is that everyone in my road who wasnt affected seemed to turn a blind eye, and pretend it wasnt happening. It would also seem that some tried to befriend the family of the boy, who was the main ring-leader and hope he didnt target them. The boy lived over the road from me, and his parents both have there own buisneses.

Bedford
I live in the small town Bedford which is a 20 miniute drive from luton. Bedford is a nice town it is just certain area's e.g Putnoe, London Road and Brikhill all of which are filled to bursting point of council estate kids. They all chill at the local shops, smoke and sell dope, always stealing hustling for a fag. Only last week a riot happend between the yobs and the pub lot. It went on for a good 2 hours, with fireworks being chucked bottles etc. Im scared to go to my local shops, i swear i moved from masrh farm luton to get away. Only to find it worse here, my car has been stolen twice this year and my bike was taken with lawnmower from my garage and same with all the neigbours. PLEASE someone stop this madness!

Mitcham
Chav Central = Mitcham. Gun crime, drug dealers and misguided youth hanging around in the town centre. I'm a large bloke and I consider myself in danger when walking through the well lit town at night. The buses during the day are plagued with kids who sit at the back at the top of the bus playing loudly their very bad music on poor sounding mobile phones, whilst swearing and joking and taking up all the space. In the 7 years I spent commuting on buses in and out of Mitcham/Tooting/Wandsworth I witnessed countless acts of vandalism abuse and fare dodging. They carry their bad habits over into their adult lives and become ner-do-wells supping taxes off the state and going nowhere. They pass their poor life skills onto the children and so the circle of chav-life is complete

Ilford
I had an attempted break in at my home in the summer and although the police have not been able to apprehend the culprit, I found that during my contact with them they were very sensitive and responsive. There has also been a knifepoint mugging outside my home recently and because of these incidents it doesn't feel like a very safe place to live. For me a big part of the problem is that there is no sense of community. I know some of my neighbours to say hello to,mostly people keep themselves to themselves. I think that a better sense of community and people knowing each other would help to make things feel safer. Also, I think that people who commit petty crimes/anti-social acts (lots of litter, graffiti, fly tipping near my home) would be less likely to do so if people knew each other more and so these acts could not be committed "anonymously". A sense of community might also make people care more about their environment. Local authorities and the police can contribute to this and also local voluntary and community groups.

Chalvey, Slough
Now this place is a BIG NO GO. If you are not recognised in the area you are seen to be in great danger. Local people in Slough even avoid this area as it is to extreme. Drugs,Guns and Fights is the source of this area.Stay away.

Littlehampton
I have lived in Littlehampton for 4 years, and even though it is a good place to live, I feel that not enough is being done to prevent crime. My car has been vandalised twice, as have my neighbours, and there is a nasty undercurrent of thuggery in the town. I personally do not feel safe going out in town at night, as I have had abuse hurled at me on several occassions, and the roads turn into the chavs' personal racetracks after 9pm, and the police seem to do very little about it. It is a shame as this seems to be happening all across the country, and what used to be a great country, has rapidly turned into a war zone! (well maybe not that bad, but it is heading that way.) This incompetent government is not helping the situation, because the criminals now seem to have free reign. It seems to me that because of the human rights legislation, the criminals can get out of any situation, and it ends up with the decent hard working tax payer that has to foot the bill!! I am sad to say it, but I have absolutely no intention of staying in this country. I will be emigrating as soon as I possibly can!

Guildford
Get out there and reclaim the streets - most young people are as perfectly polite and reasonable as we were when teenagers.

High Wycombe
Our once attractive market town is now truly dreadful. No go areas full of hookers and drug dealers, roads full of holes and litter and filth everywhere. Dreadful, dreadful, dreadful. Wish I could be more positive.

Newport, Isle of Wight
20 years ago reports of street crime (muggings) in the local paper were unheard of, now they are commonplace. Kids hang around outside of McDonalds smoking, drinking and hurling abuse at passers by. 10:30 Saturday morning, High Street. Group of men sat on a seat drinking from cans and hurling abuse at passers by. Group of men come out of a chemist take a bottle of green liquid out of a chemist's paper bag (methodone?), throw the bag on the street and walk down the road swigging from bottle. Driving car, come across a group of children (10-12 yo) larking about in road. Tap horn to let them know I was there, get a bottle thrown at me, next time I'll just drive over them.

Strood
I ask some teenagers to stop kicking there ball against my car as they was a park 100yrd away.They never said anything but the next morning I got up and my light was kicked in and my wing mirror ripped off.The overall cost to repair my car was over £300 I think the parents of these yobs should be made to pay.KIDS HAVE NO RESPECT ANYMORE.

Rochester
Since I grew up as a child in Rochester here are some of the changes I've noted each time I go back. My local stained glass church is now a Hindu temple. The local health centre is barracaded like a fortress with barbed wire and a security fence. Prostitutes loiter along Rochester Station. Eastern Europeans and other immigrants are en masse in Chatham making me feel like a foreigner. Local "nail bars" have sprung up all over the place with Vietnamese and Asian workers.A first time "Chinese Festival" has begun this year in the Historic Norman Castle grounds.

Feltham
No go? You mean car orientated! Nothing is local any more. Most people do not have any services/entertainments within walking distance, so nobody walks anywhere. They get in their car. This leaves the streets to anybody without a car - kids/teenagers. We have got to this point because of our love affair with cars. On so many levels, environmental, neighbourhood decline, a more self-centred society, lower personal skills and a lack of empathy due to the lack of communication with anybody outside of their work or home life. You might know your neighbour, but you don't know the person three doors down because you don't go anywhere they go. It's things like this that cause no-go areas as much as it is the kids. The reason this is not a problem on the continent is they still have things in proportion with regard local restaurants and stores, etc where local congregate and meet their neighbours.

Aldershot
12 months ago I owned a flat close to a major Superstore and the Police Station in Aldershot, without fail every Saturday and Sunday morning my young daughter and I would be woken at 2 am by drunks predominantly young soldiers on their way back to camp. As residents we had vehicles in our private car park stolen / damaged, fencing broken down, and our properties being urinated or vomited on. In addition the subways were being used for drug dealing. This went on for well over a year despite calls to the Police who were based 300 yards away. Support was sought from Local Councillors and the Borough Council, Rushmoor, letters were unanswered. Both I and other residents would always call the Police, who often would not attend or have such slow response times that the incident had passed. We requested a panel meeting with the Police and Council to try and formulate an agreement in an effort to solve the problems that were blighting our lives. The meeting was held once but the P! olice and council failed to attend any subsequent ones. The Crime and Disorder Reduction Partnership between the Police and Borough Council appears to be non existent at the expense of the community in the area. The area has in effect three Police forces, the County force, the Ministry of Defence Police and the Royal Military Police and I lived approximately 300 yards from the Police Station. Aldershot has so much potential, it¿s steeped in history but has become an outpost of Hampshire.

Englefield Green, Egham
I live in a small and pretty village situated between Ascot, Windsor and Staines and like everyone else on this noticeboard we experience the same problems as everyone else. The teenagers from the local council estate are pretty much left alone to roam the village and inflict whatever damage and pysical violence they choose. This is coupled with abuse and intimidation. The parents don't care because most of them are in their early thirties with the same mental age. My own recommendation would be to create a team of vigilanties to inflict their own style of justice and drive these scumbags out.

Gravesend
This is rubbish that people are now able to leave their doors open like they did when I was growing up. My town has slid back to drunken fights and gangs of youths from the Eastern block running mad exploiting new found freedoms. I hate this town and I don't feel safe walking through the town after dark. Most mornings when I walk my dog, i see the evidence of broken car windows and boarded up shop windows. My town has no heart or soul and has changed too fast for people, or the week child-like Police to stand any chance of keeping up with the pace of change.

Portsmouth
A city in sad decline. Whilst money may have been spent on things such as the Spinnaker Tower and Gunwharf, many parts of the city have become what I could only describe as a toilet. The drive from North End down through Fratton is a total misery. Boarded up shops, graffiti, another new "ethnic supermarket" seems to have opened each time I drive along there as well as the usual baseball cap wearing chavs that are always present. A walk along South Parade and you've got Eastern Europeans, Kosovans and Iraqi Kurd "refugees" hanging around (all young males I must add).

Surbiton
It strikes me that the whole country is under siege judging by the variety of comments. Surbiton is no better, with its YMCA housing all the council's riff-raff, and the all the social problems they cause. There seems to be two causes: 1) Prescott's marvellous vision of spreading social housing across all communities so as to dilute the effect. Nice idea, but clearly has failed in practise. Time for a re-think. 2) The law (particularly with the human rights act) limits what can be done to stop such behaviour, and adequately punish offenders. Bring back corporal punishment!

Woking
I was a police constable in Woking in the 60's and the fights and disorder I had to attend there and in Chertsey were far worse than anything today. Things are getting better, not perfect but when did we last have a youth battle involving 100 young people which was relatively common then. Hope you keep this in perspective as unlike the government you have nothing to gain by spinning 'the great asb problem and what we are doing' line. People look back through rose tinted spectacles. It was not much better then!

Sutton
the borough that I live has change in last 20 years, it is now full of refugees that are draining our health services, theres a high unemployment due to being so overcrowded that the borough can no longer cope with the high demand in jobs and housing, so this has lead to many of the born and bred locals being accused of being racist, all they are saying is no more should be accepted, there is much more violence on the streets due to the dirty deeds of drug crimes and other black market going ons. not just refugees, both. the borough has become dirty with kids having no respect and being allowed to do what they want, if there is a green area, give time and then thereis a block of unsightly flats to try and compensate for the lack of housing, I could go on and on. things are getting like third rate country now.

Leatherhead, Surrey
I used to take my daughter to the swing park near our house. After repeated arguments with teenagers who at 11 in the morning were drinking, setting fire to things, and damaging all of the facilities, I gave up and took her a mile in the car to another swing park that was in a better location. The local shop was continually being damaged by the feral kids. You have to push past them to get in the door, getting threatening comments in the process. There was a shortcut from the station to my house down a path, but I stopped taking that in the winter as it was too poorly lit. Leatherhead station was full of drunk teenagers at night. The answer ? We upped sticks and emigrated to Australia. I can now walk to the park with my daughter and not have to worry about any of the above. There are no kids hanging around the shops either. In the UK the law abiding majority suffer so that the underclass [there is no other word for them] can do whatever they want with zero effective control ! of sanction.

Reigate
Since moving from Tunbridge Wells to Reigate, thinking that it would be a safe change of scenery, there have been numerous incidents in the area from muggings, carjackings, verbal threats etc... So as you can see all manner of issues and from experience this is the same everywhere. Having been born in the UK 30 years ago and then spending 10 years out and coming back, the place has gone to wrack and ruin but all the government seem to worry about are external issues and they really need to start thinking about the problems at home.

Waltham Abbey
Waltham Abbey is still quite a nice area to live however since Tesco decided to build a large un-necessary supermarket with a large unused car park right below my window it has become a hell hole - all night long every night 7 nights & days a week kids in cars congregate in the car park directly under my window and create havoc - they egg each other on to drive on two wheels skidding around the car park with no consideration for people who live there and also pedestrians i have even witnessed them using the parked cars as an obstacle course. Tesco are not interested and not the council. I could go out there every night of the week and loose my temper but whose to say they won't smash my windows? So what do you do sit back and suffer and wait for the day when 1 idiot loses control of his car hits the wall of my flat and dies, then maybe security may be stepped up, and people may listen to how we all feel.

Southend
Having lived in various bits of Essex over the years it is safe to say that virtually anything South of the A127 is now a dump and was getting gradually worst while I lived there. Thuggish behaviour is a norm with Southend on Sea being particularly bad. I'd strongly recommend avoiding Southend at night, I used to work near the seafront but the chav and boy racer numbers make the place an intimidating and nasty place to be most of the time. It is ashame that these people don't learn some respect for our country. Most people moan about those who have immigrated in from overseas but until the indiginous people respect our country how can we expect our foreign vistors to!

GuildfordWhile there may be some nice areas of guildford, I happen to live in one of the worst. Bus stops and car windows (including mine) are always being smashed. There are always groups of chavs on the streets and I personally am afraid to spend time outside my house for fear of being targetted. There has been graffiti on walls and a malicious fire was started in someones garden. We also have loads of cars pulling up with great big sound systems going and gangs of kids hanging around. You never see a patrol car around. Its certainly not a happy area, I cant wait to move.
While there may be some nice areas of guildford, I happen to live in one of the worst. Bus stops and car windows (including mine) are always being smashed. There are always groups of chavs on the streets and I personally am afraid to spend time outside my house for fear of being targetted. There has been graffiti on walls and a malicious fire was started in someones garden. We also have loads of cars pulling up with great big sound systems going and gangs of kids hanging around. You never see a patrol car around. Its certainly not a happy area, I cant wait to move.

Portsmouth
I live in Portsmouth and have to say I don't recognise the two other description giiven of the city. Yes it isn't perfect, but where in this world is. The influx of people into the city, of whatever ethnic origin, has from my point of view been an overwhelmingly good thing (maybe I am biased having lived here for a mere half my life). It certainly has produced a fantastically wide selection of food outlets from originating from all over the world. Having grown up as a student here I must say that I have experienced very little resentment from the locals because of being a student. I find it very surpising that the student feels that he would have been better off in Southampton. I have known students who study there and they appear to have experienced the similar, or worse, over there. I think that we have a case of 'the grass is greener the other side of the fence'. And as for the 'there are so many houses let that people don't care for them'.. well about 10-15% of my street! is rented housing... and I would challenge anyone to correctly walk down the street and identify the rented, or owner occupied houses. My neighbours are on one side students (I barely know they are there!) and a couple in a housing association managed house (again I barely know they are there they are so quiet).

St Leonards, Hastings
I note with interest the other towns and wonder why no-body has mentioned St Leonards. Once a beautiful genteel town for the Victorians now a haven for drugs. I so love watching people come to my area in their cars in broad daylight and watching them snort coke off the dashboard. I find it at 33 scary an intimidating and this goes on just down the road from the police station. The police have lost the war on crime. I speak to many people and I am yet to find anyone happy with the state of our country. Last person leaving please switch out the lights.

Bexhill, East Sussex
Boy racers of scooters cutting up cars, racing each other through residential streets and generally riding in an unsafe manner. Groups of teenagers hanging around at the Ravenside shopping centre and shelters on the seafront. Grafitti, rubbish, binbags put out too early and torn open by foxes and seagulls alike. Closed shops and no public loos. This used to be a nice Edwardian seaside town, which had a pride in its appearance, now its hard to reconise with a pervading smell of stale urine and cold macdonalds. It doesn't feel safe to walk on the seafront in the evening and you run the risk of knocking boys off their scooters when driving, only to face abuse if you say anything to them. Why can't the people who still have pride in their town take control - because everything, including the local council and the legal system, are set up to protect the rights of those who infringe the rules.

Brighton
Brighton is really nice. I live close to the largest council estate in the city and many of the people there seem to be hard working and ambitious. The working classes have not changed and are not getting any 'worse', the middle classes are just becoming more and more snobbish. There are some new discipline problems with kids but generally they really are the same as they have ever been.

Warlingham, Surrey
Despite requests there are still no foot patrols by police. We have community support officers but they have no powers of arrest and are just laughed at by wrong doers.The appointment of more of them is being opposed by local councils who's views are ignored by Surrey Police. We have much petty crime in our samll rural community - cars being vandalised, stones thrown at houses, raucous kids etc. - that would disappear in time if there was effective policing of the streets. This view is expressed at community meetings but continually ignored by Surrey Police. It contributes to people using cars rather than walking as they feel safer, so not feeling safe in the community adds to global warming presures

Portsmouth
portsmouth is the scummiest place i have ever lived in, a city with such great heritage and history - the mary rose, the battle of trafalger, the birthplace of charles dickens to name just a few, is now little more than a festering hole for the indiginous chav population to intimidate and abuse the unfornuate few who live here without the intentions to steal and fight one another. i am a student - (a minority who are resented with the upmost hatred by the locals in portsmouth) and have been mugged and had two bikes stolen from me in less than a year. i shall be moving away from this dump as soon as i have finished my degree never to return again. should have gone to southampton!

Woking
We pay massive amounts for the Police service, but in our region the man on the beat is as rare as hens teeth. Inded when you call to ask for police support you are unlikely to get it until maybe sometime the next day if you are lucky. In a neighbouring community recently 400 tyres were slashed. Gangs of teenagers roam the streets and honest citizens stay indoors. In my own street we literally pray for wet Friday, Saturday and Sunday evenings so that the little beasts will get wet, and deterred go straight home. And we live in Surrey - one of the home counties, not in Mogodishu or Rio. It has become so bad that at last locals are threatening to take the law into their own hands - because it is out of the hands of the Police. And what do they say - well, they advise that we really should not do this. And the alternative, pray? Police stay nice and warm in their cars and offices filling out forms whilst the miscreants run amok.

Eastbourne
I lived in Essex for many years and watched that slowly go down the toilet before moving to Sussext to be nearer relations, Eastbourne is a relatively pleasant Town, but slowly but surely the cracks are appearing with vandalism, mindless graffiti,yobbery and dissolute behaviour noticeably on the increase in recent years. The local authority and Police are alas as apathetic and ineffective as other contributors on this site say theirs are.The council and police seem interested in meeting fatuous and irrelevant targets that do not improve the quality of life for respectable law abiding citizens and leave the marauding yobs to carry on their antisocial activities with little fear of legal retribution. Like many people on this site I say enough is enough it is time to reclaim the streets and society from those who quite frankly do not give a toss about anything except themselves, we cant all just give up or emigrate.

High Wycombe
I reported a car with no tax disc parked on the curb to the police and was told that there was nothing that could be done because the car had not been reported stolen. At least half a dozen phone calls were made to the police trying to get action but the answer was always the same that nothing could be done because the car had not been reported stolen. I have no doubt that in this particular case it is very likely that peoples lives were put a risk late at night and in the small hours of the mornings by an inexperienced driver in a powerful car.

Banstead, Surrey
What is going on with this country, reading the reports of some of these people really scares me! In defense of the police I think they do what they can given the limited number of bobbys on the street. I remember when I used to walk to my primary school (and this was only 10-13 years ago) the local bobby used to help us cross the busy road and keep and eye on the kids. It gave you a kind of respect for police. Today teenagers dont seem to have any respect for anyone, it does however seem to be a majority that are spoiling it for the rest though. Somthing needs to be done and quickly before there is nothing left of this country!

Reading
I have lived here for 5 years now, on first moving here I had a drive by shooting at the end of my street, followed by an attempted burglary to my home. Someone then, last year, decided to try and kindly take my car from me - with me in it! Stupidly, I still live in this town. Guess some would call me mad, but if you want peace and quiet and no trouble then really you should live in the middle of no where.

East Grinstead
Although all seems well on the streets of East Grinstead, as a 15 year old I know there's more than that. Rival groups of 'chavs' and 'non-chavs' is causing conflicts at underground gigs, in parks, and the adults ingore it. Typical.

Southampton
i am a 23 year old male and about a year ago i was robbed at knifepoint, i decided not to report this to the police as i only had the briefest of descriptions and i new there would be no hope of finding who did this and did not believe any effort would be put into finding this as there were such brief details. The only time i would go to the police is for something like a burglary where you need the crime number to claim on insurance as i have a very small amount of confidence in the police as things have also happened to my friends with nothing done, i also witnessed an assault and tried to give my details to the officer on the scene but as it was a bouncer who had done the assaulting i was ignored and my details not taken.

Aylesbury
Living in a `nice area' with a green opposite, our lives are made a misery by `yobs' playing on the Children's play area, placed there by the council with no consultation with people liveing nearby. The town of Aylesbury is now a no go area in the evenings.

Woking
I live on a council estate and anti-social behaviour is a big problem here. Generally it's large groups of teenagers hanging around with nothing to do except get drunk. The police will not attend to disperse them until violence breaks out. The main problem is that the parents (and I use that term very loosely) will not take responsibility for their offspring, and more often than not the parents are little more than children themselves. This time last year, my brother owned an old soft-top Suzuki jeep, and the local pyromaniac knifed the canvas to gain access and then began to let fireworks off inside the car. We witnessed this with our own eyes and my brother got hold of the 'kid' (16 years old) and just managed to stop himself giving him a hiding. The next thing we know is that the police are at our door and the kid's mother is threatening to press charges of assault. Strange how the police did not want to hear about it when he was trying to torch my brother's car. The borough council are in denial over the state of their ward. Lots of money is being ploughed into making us the 'cultural centre of Surrey' by opening such things as an art gallery and erecting sculptures in the town centre, but they do not want to admit that the whole place is a no-go area every Friday and Saturday night. There are a lot of people in the area who do not work, not because there is no work because there is plenty around here, but because they are better off on benefits and are more than likely just plain lazy. The council's policy (and probably that of higher government) does little to encourage people off benefits. Therefore the scroungers have too much time on their hands to cause trouble, and cause trouble is something they are only too good at round here. It will get a lot worse before it gets any better.

Orpington
I bought my ex-local authority flat 3 years ago under the impression that a large number of the other flats in the block were also privately owned. I was wrong and have since discovered that I'm in the minority. Sadly some of my neighbours have little or no respect for the state of the estate with bin bags regularly thrown from windows, broken lights, broken windows and graffiti. The council carry out repairs on a daily basis, which is pretty impressive, but sadly gives the message loud and clear that it doesn't matter if you break it, the council come and fix it again straight away. My maintenance bill has almost doubled in the time I have lived there and I have no doubt that it can be attributed entirely to the increase in vandalism related repairs (not to mention rubbish removal - we regularly have unwanted furniture and electrical items littering the pavements). I wonder if my non-tax-paying neighbours contribute in any way to the increased costs? Not long after moving in my brand new car was crashed into by joy riders. A short while later the same joy riders (we all knew who did it but the police could do nothing because they were under 16) crashed into my bathroom wall smashing all the pipework and flooding the flat. They then crashed into the brick-built shed housing the bins, reducing them to ruins. The "boy" responsible was moved off the estate a short while later and things died down but we have since acquired a new generation of thugs and have regular cars torched and dumped on our doorsteps. There are regular fights between neighbours, especially on giro-day. For those that don't work, every day is a weekend so the loud music, drinking and fighting keeps me awake on a regular basis. Since the firework season started things have got really bad, culminating in eggs being randomly thrown at windows to huge hilarity. I'm too scared to approach the kids doing it - they are very intimidating and I'm a single women living alone. I have a feeling if I said anything it would just make things worse anyway - they don't seem to be afraid of anything, especially the police, who are taunted verbally whenever they visit (which is regularly). Two nights ago my shed was broken into and my new bike stolen. My neighbour had his mopen stolen which is his only form of transport to get to work. I'm certain the perpetrators won't be caught - I hope I'm wrong. I'm putting the place on the market in the New Year and am getting the hell out of there. I just hope my neighbours behave long enough to allow me to sell it.

Farnham
I lived in Farnham, Surrey for 10 years, and I felt much less safe here than I did in Brixton and New Cross where I have also lived. The middle class kids gather in the town and hang around as they are not imaginative enough to find other things to do. The fact that it is poorly lit and there are few people around makes me feel even less safe and walking at night as I do in London is impossible, and there is virtually no public transport. I felt very unsafe there and am glad I left.

Eastbourne
often being harrised for money while walking in the street, In both daytime or during hours of darkness.

Bracknell
My family lived in the hellhole called Bracknell for two years. In that time I had become a hermit and was depressed and suicidal. It is ruled by gangs and thugs, adult, teenage and preteen alike. Everywhere you go you can always expect trouble from someone. You live with constant verbal and physical abuse. We were harrassed by a machete weilding neighbour who ensured we could not use our back garden and venturing out the front could only be done when we knew he was out. At nightime it was way too dangerous to go out. The authorities do not seem interested in the children smoking, drinking and abusing in clear sight of them. It's now accepted that they can do what they like. If you stand up to a young hooligan, you can expect his gang to appear and they will all be backed up by parents who are hooligans too. We did it once at the playground where a young thug had set upon a much smaller boy and kicked him to the ground and started punching him in the head. I shouted at my partner to go and help and the instigator fled and my partner grabbed him. I told him to hang on to him until we could find his parents, but within seconds we had been surrounded by a gang of children and about 5 mothers all hurling abuse at us. we were verbally abused for about 15 minutes and pelted with food. Although the park was quite full, noone tried to help us and noone called the police. My own children were present and were 6 and 4 at the time. they had been verbally and physically abused as well as myself and my partner. when the gang finally gave up and left we spoke to the mother of the child who had been attacked and she was thankful, but said there was nothing she could have done to help. we did ring the police but they said there was nothing they could do even though we had taken the license plates of the cars the people had used. it soon became clear, having suffered many, many incidents of that type, that aggressive, violent and anti-social behaviour is an accepted thing by the people and authorities in Bracknell.

Egham
Being next to Staines my town is run amock by kids, theres nothing for them to do, and the authorities don't do anything to control them. After a friend got mugged on the local station he went and asked for the CCTV tapes to be supplied to the local police, to wich he was told "Sorry, but they wern't recording". Even though i am only 20 and there is but a few years difference, i have been brought up to have respect for others and to be polite - something that actually gains suspision nowadays.

Crawley
Most residents in the Crawley town area are intimidated by groups of teenagers that hang about outside local small supermarkets, and in local parks. I know most won't leave their homes after dark. There are no visible police patrols unless in vehicles, I have yet to see a community Police officer in the area. We are also plagued by caravan travellers mostly Irish that tout the neighbourhood for cash jobs. REturning time and again to the same address mostly elderly and vulnerable.

Portsmouth
What used to be a great country is now irreparably destroyed, where crime is the thriving business, where you no longer feel safe even in your own home, and where the white indigenous people are always wrong. I shall be emigrating shortly and mourn the loss of my country. I loved living here and loved the country. No more. My country is dead, Good Bye Great Britain.

Orpington
I have to be honest and say that in the four years my family has lived in Orpington we haven't had that much trouble. When we first moved in I had to stamp my authority on a local youth who had attacked my then 5 year old son for his bike, but after dealing with the youths father and getting the money to repair the bike we haven't even had a side ways glance. This is an important point to make as at least 80% of the people living around me are living rent free and have moved in from local caravan sites. These people do like their music and at this time of year their fireworks but on the whole are a descent bunch of people. We have plans to move but that is not down to the area in which we live. Orpington is OK by me.

Portsmouth
I am only in middle age but I am scared of going into the city to shop. Not only from loud intimidating youngsters but the feeling of being alien in my own country. It is awash with foreigners who don't respect OUR culture and en masse they are very intimidating too. I wouldn't ever venture out once it gets dark, and where we live used to be peaceful and well kept. Now there are no so many houses that are let that there is no pride in the appearance of the houses and the occupants are very ill mannered and noisy. I feel most sorry for the elderly who have no chance of moving out. Owners should be more considerate of who they let to!

Dartford
Night time vandalism in our area of Kent is now an accepted Norm, especially as the nights draw in. Telephone Kiosk's regulary smashed. Car Mirrors kicked in or broken into, with the occasional cars stolen and burnt wreck left abandoned on th Heath. My Brother, who lives in Hawley, recently had a brick thrown thro' his window after he complained to some youths to keep the noise down. We've recently had a pitch fork thrown into our garden but again, not for the first time, the lack of response/apathy we received from Kent Police has made us seriously rethink about ever bothering to report a Crime again. Perhaps if we could claim rebate on our Rates for vandalism from the Council/Police may respond.

Chertsey, Surrey
I moved to new flats built which are in among a council estate, I was assured that although the road was notorious years ago that it had now calmed down. Not so. Police are present most days we have had to put locks on our bin/cycle cupboards as the Landlords found needles etc from drugs - many people have ASBOs down the road and as soon as I can I will be moving!

Stubbington, Hants
Mine used to be a lovely village with a real community feel. Then, 3 years ago a new development of houses was built. This in itself was not a problem, the real problem came when they were legally bound to build social housing as a percentage of the development. The families that were moved in have destroyed our once lovely village. Drug taking in the park, vandalism and underage drinking not to mention the gangs hanging around and intimidating the elderly. The police have been informed repeatedly and have done NOTHING. It is now too late to change the attitudes of the morons running amok, they are in charge and could not care less for any others around them just as long as they get their next fix. The police are only interested in making sure that they keep their funding and so spend all their time inventing new initiatives supposedly to combat crime but in reality just to look good to their political masters. Finally we have the politicians. A more self serving, amoral band of lick-spittles have never existed in history. They vote along party lines simply to gain/remain in power and have forgotten that they are there to serve the population. I shall be emigrating shortly and mourn the loss of my country. I loved living here and loved the country. No more. My country is dead and only the parasites are getting fat feeding on its corpse.

Reading
When I moved in to my Close in 1996, it wasquiet andsafe,now a gang of youths run riot most nights, the old people are afraid to go out and no-one seems to want to challenge these yobbos. Isn't it about time the streets in this country were reclaimed on behalf of law abiding citizens?

Headcorn, Kent
Teenagers congregate in a special built area behind a hedge.They then can jump out at any passers by to snatch handbags. If thought in planning had taken place before building this apparatus and had been placed further away harrassment and bag snatching would not occur. I carry an empty bag now!

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