Hindley residents speak out as youth disorder sparks police dispersal order
Locals say they feel unsafe venturing out at night as councillors and business owners call for more support, youth services, and visible policing to tackle rising anti-social behaviour.
AMENDED: I have been contacted by Wigan and Leigh Hospice asking us to remove the images of the women in their shop with the lanyards on. There’s no problem with the story otherwise.
Anti-social behaviour and teenagers running amok – even challenging the police as well as local residents who just want a peaceful life.
Such was the case in the Wigan outpost town of Hindley at the weekend, where a dispersal order was put in place following multiple incidents, including ‘alcohol-related disturbances’ and ‘youths throwing items at cars’.
The order gives powers to the police to exclude people from an area for up to 48 hours.
But what is the solution to this issue that often troubles small towns in Greater Manchester?
When the Local Democreacy Reporting Service (LDRS) visited the town to investigate, it was revealed that there were several factors combined which resulted in the unrest.
It’s a serious issue because, as evidenced by the people we spoke to, it prevents law-abiding local residents venturing out into the town in evenings and the weekends – effectively surrendering the streets to an unruly mob.
Informed intel from ward councillor Paul Blay suggests that youths from outside of Hindley may have been attracted to the town by the Hindley Fair, run by A L Silcock Fun Fairs.
But it wasn’t as simple as that. Boss Arthur Silcock explained: “It kicked in a nearby pub onto Market Street when two girls started fighting with each other,” he said.
“They somehow found their way onto her, and all hell broke loose, with one of them hitting a police officer.
“At one point, there were 13 police cars here. It was mayhem.”
Mr Silcock said he was hoping there would be no more trouble at the fair, which runs until today (Saturday, October 5).
All this was apart from the teenagers which residents say drift across the Tesco Extra large car park in the heart of Hindley.
Although people say the youths hang around the car park and drift into Cross Street and Market Street, a Tesco spokesperson has denied the store chain experiences ‘persistent anti-social behaviour’ in its car park.
But they added: “However, we do take reports of anti-social behaviour extremely seriously, and we work with local authorities to proactively prevent this type of behaviour.”
Asad Khan, who works in the Pound Bargains store on Market Street, said youngsters coming into the shop creating problems is a regular occurrence.
“They are underage and they come in and start messing about,” he said. “If they are clearly not interested in buying anything, I politely ask them to leave.
“Sometimes I will get abuse, but it’s just something we have to deal with.”
A woman working behind the bar in a local pub, who did not wish to be named, told the LDRS: “The problems here are caused by kids whose parents don’t give a c***.
“They tend to come over from Tesco’s car park. You could argue that it’s just kids being kids, but sometimes it goes too far.”
One of her elderly male customers said: “I don’t come out in Hindley at night, only during the day. It doesn’t feel safe here at night.”
In the Wigan and Leigh Hospice shop on Market Street, volunteers and customers also attribute the source of the unrest to the Tesco car park.
Christine Banks said: “I’ve stopped parking on Tesco’s car park. When the kids are near my car and I warned them, all I got was them swearing at me.”
Her friend, Margaret Shields, said: “There are not enough police on the streets here. It’s no wonder people like us don’t come out at night and at weekends.”
Janet Johnson agreed: “Parents need to take responsibility for what their children are doing and we need more bobbies around here – it’s not difficult to see what the problems are.”
Tommy Foster, who is in his 50s, said he was also reluctant to venture into Hindley at night. “I’m too old to be dealing with these kids, so I stay away,” he said.
So it’s back to Hindley Coun Blay. He said: “We’ve tried all sorts of things over the years to deal with this problem.
“I think the problem at the weekend was exceptional because there were teenagers coming in from different areas.
“Over the last two or three years, we’ve worked with the council’s anti-social behaviour teams to create a youth club, which is based on the old Labour Club, to give the kids something to do to alleviate the situation.”
He said the plan was to expand the age range of the youth club up to 16.
“From October 23, we’re rolling out a plan in local schools to stop the kids roaming the streets, but I’m led to believe that last weekend, this was something different.”
His Labour colleague in the next council ward, Hindley Green, Coun James Palmer said there concerns the unrest in the town would spread to outer areas.
“The problem is that kids are bored,” he said: “There’s only so much you can do on an X-Box.
“There used to be a youth club up at the Bethell Church run by the congregation, but that’s gone.
“There’s nowhere for these teenagers to go. It’s a shame because these kids are not bad, they’re just bored.”