In the early hours of the morning (2am approx) my brother in law; Haroon, was rudely interrupted form his work as an evening controller for A.A. Security by a loud banging on the shutters of our offices. He came out to investigate and found a drunk homeless man kicking the shutters causing damage.
He asked the man to leave and was struck at by the man who in his inebriated state was full of bravado, but not much balance. Haroon pinned the assailant to a wall and asked him to stop, afraid that one of the attacker's swings might actually connect and cause injury.
The Homless man proceeded to call three friends who started to attack Haroon who ran to my house frightened and outnumbered. Fortunately I was still awake watching a recording of the nights football matches with my 16 month daughter asleep next to me. I opened the door promptly, which no doubt rescued Haroon from being pulverised. The men started to jeer and insult Haroon and I, challenging me to come out. When I started calling the Police indicating to the men that the call had been made, they started walking away shouting at us from slightly further away.
My 16 month daughter and my two elder where by now screaming and crying frightened of what was occurring on our street. I asked my wife to take the phone call to the police and got dressed, so that I could follow the men from the safety of my car to alert the police of there whereabouts.
The time it took me to get dressed meant that by the time I had left the house the men had moved beyond vision. Haroon and I travelled around the areas we thought we might find them but they were not locatable. When the police arrived we informed them of the incident and they went searching in the local graveyard.
The area around my offices has three off-licences and a pub and local residents recently requested an extension of the no-drinking zone along Green Lane. Quite honestly, I believe this incident and numerous others, validate the concerns of local people.
I am in the process of arranging a meeting with local Police on how to go about challenging for an extension and I do hope that you will join us. Dates for the proposed meeting will be viewable on this page as soon as it is confirmed.
The police have agreed to ask local shops not to sell alcohol to individuals exhibiting drunken behaviour and to warn of the associated penalties.
I have created an on-line petition calling for an extension of the no drinking zone to secondary shopping precincts on Green Lane. Please sign it by clicking the link below:
http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/extendnodrinkingzone
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