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Drunks driving visitors away from Weymouth (From Dorset Echo)
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Drunks driving visitors away from Weymouth
9:30am Saturday 4th July 2009
DRUNKEN vagrants are driving visitors away from Weymouth and damaging businesses.
Traders and visitors say they are fed up with drinkers disturbing the peace on the seafront and want more action to remove them.
Business owners fear the behaviour of the drinkers along the Esplanade could deter tourists from using that part of the seafront and beach or returning to the resort.
They claim the drunks often congregate around St John’s Church in the evenings and spend much of their days drinking on the seafront.
The Section 30 dispersal order being used by police and Police Community Support Officers to ask groups of two or more people acting anti-socially to move on has expired.
Robert Gutteridge, owner of the Tea Cabin, said: “It’s a nightmare for businesses because if you get off the bus and the first thing you see is alcoholics then the first thing you are going to do next is get back on that bus and go home. We’ve got to make ourselves family orientated.
“That’s where our roots are.”
Mr Gutteridge said he often found beer cans outside the café in the morning.
He said: “We’ve seen the drunks and we do still get the regular ones that don’t seem to have got the message yet. So we are still getting the same faces.
“The police don’t seem to be dealing with the old drunks so I wonder whether they are exempt. And I think drunks are aggressive generally.”
Kirsty Attree, who works at The Beach Café, said an 'old man' had recently been seen drunk in the town centre in the middle of the day hitting people with his bag, urinating and then exposing himself.
She said: “We’ve had a few down here and one came into the café. He must have been on something and he was getting aggressive and saying he was going to smack someone.
“We tried to ignore him and hoped he’d go away and he did eventually. They tend to go in the toilets and sleep.
“Sometimes we can get quite worried when they start coming in the café.
“You never know whether they are going to kick off or not and I don’t think the queen will be impressed.”
Beach hut trader Simon Ellard said: “They’ve been congregating in a shelter and they are a damn nuisance. They get rowdy and lie on the beach and we keep trying to get them moved on.
“It just looks bad for Weymouth especially as business has picked up and there are a lot of people here.
“When you walk along the seafront you don’t want to see a group of people out of their heads.
“There’s smashed bottles on the beach and that’s what I don’t like if there’s kids jumping on the beach here.”
Weymouth and Portland Borough Council’s tourism spokesman Brendan Webster said he has received 'a cry for help from seafront beach traders' and said one closed early one day for fear of injury to his staff.
He said: “I am very concerned for our tourist industry.
“We desperately need effective policing and we should not have to rely on Section 30.
“I am sure there are laws other than this that could be used to remove menacing behaviour.”
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Your Say YourEcho
freeopinion, Portland says...
9:54am Sat 4 Jul 09
Exiled Terra, London says...
10:11am Sat 4 Jul 09
freeopinion wrote:The sensible way of dealing with a social problem I see, why not just give them more meths til they kill themselves. There should be help ( if they want it) but clearly its easier to brush it under the carpet.
Round them all up and take them out of town and dump them in the middle of nowhere then they might take the hint they are not welcome here, they are a disgrace to the town and them selves.
deco1935, Dorchester says...
10:56am Sat 4 Jul 09
The fact is that many will not accept help when it is offered and prefer to follow the downbeat lives they lead. I once asked a female vagrant as to why she was begging on the street in Dorchester when, as I understood it, the council were legally obliged to provide her with accomodation. Quite incredibly she replied that as she could not take her dog with her in to council accomodation she would therefore remain sleeping rough 24 hours a day. I like dogs but there is a limit.
Exiled Terra, London says...
11:20am Sat 4 Jul 09
deco1935 wrote:Maybe that dog was the only thing to have mattered to her? Anyhow, Weymouth has always had a high rate of drink and drug users, and people need to look to themselves and ask why and not just cart them off. Weymouth certainly isnt the town all those many pensioners who move here would like to believe.
To exiles Terra, London,
The fact is that many will not accept help when it is offered and prefer to follow the downbeat lives they lead. I once asked a female vagrant as to why she was begging on the street in Dorchester when, as I understood it, the council were legally obliged to provide her with accomodation. Quite incredibly she replied that as she could not take her dog with her in to council accomodation she would therefore remain sleeping rough 24 hours a day. I like dogs but there is a limit.
freeopinion, Portland says...
11:58am Sat 4 Jul 09
Exiled Terra wrote:Why not just give them more meths til they kill themselves. Good idea perhaps a box of matches as well to speed things up.
freeopinion wrote: Round them all up and take them out of town and dump them in the middle of nowhere then they might take the hint they are not welcome here, they are a disgrace to the town and them selves.The sensible way of dealing with a social problem I see, why not just give them more meths til they kill themselves. There should be help ( if they want it) but clearly its easier to brush it under the carpet.
Tike, Weymouth says...
12:33pm Sat 4 Jul 09
The echo must be desperate for a front page story - nothing like bias and stirring up hatred is there?
siratb, Preston says...
1:22pm Sat 4 Jul 09
That is because they come from other parts of the country to sign on and live rough. Why be homeless in Birmingham when you can be homeless in Weymouth (and less likely to get knifed)?
knivelhead51, Portland says...
1:33pm Sat 4 Jul 09
freeopinion, Portland says...
1:49pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Tike wrote:Like deco1935, Dorchester says they don’t want help, they have got themselves into this position out of choice and for no other reason and prefer to stay in their present situation out of choice, there is help if they wanted to get back on their feet and if it was not for do-gooders feeding them and giving them money they would have no choice but to get back on their feet or starve, so as far as i am concerned it’s the do-gooders that are doing them the most harm by allowing them to live like that. As for your comment about the Echo being desperate for a story the issue has been raised by local traders who pay a great deal of money in taxes and are therefore entitled to object to anything that affects their business, they are also concerned about the image of the town it’s bad enough for adults to have to see these people but how do you think parents feel about their children seeing them. On a final point I don’t often have the chance to say anything good about the Echo but on this occasion i think they are right to highlight this problem and to keep doing so until something is done.
Fantastic, give meths & a box of matches to these ex-services and ex-children in care people and that'll make the world a much nicer place. The council has a duty to provide accomodation ONLY when the temerature drops to below zero for three consecutive nights. In Weymouth that provision takes the form of charity/volunteer workers doing it for free. When the shelter is open there's no trouble at all from the people using it. The echo must be desperate for a front page story - nothing like bias and stirring up hatred is there?
Techie, Weymouth says...
2:01pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Exiled Terra, London says...
3:14pm Sat 4 Jul 09
freeopinion wrote:Out of site out of mind and all that eh? As long as you keep telling yourself its someone else's problem then it will go away. Narrow minded people like you is the reason i left my home town, the place is full of NIMBY's ( most of all dont come from the place at all )
Tike wrote:Like deco1935, Dorchester says they don’t want help, they have got themselves into this position out of choice and for no other reason and prefer to stay in their present situation out of choice, there is help if they wanted to get back on their feet and if it was not for do-gooders feeding them and giving them money they would have no choice but to get back on their feet or starve, so as far as i am concerned it’s the do-gooders that are doing them the most harm by allowing them to live like that. As for your comment about the Echo being desperate for a story the issue has been raised by local traders who pay a great deal of money in taxes and are therefore entitled to object to anything that affects their business, they are also concerned about the image of the town it’s bad enough for adults to have to see these people but how do you think parents feel about their children seeing them. On a final point I don’t often have the chance to say anything good about the Echo but on this occasion i think they are right to highlight this problem and to keep doing so until something is done.
Fantastic, give meths & a box of matches to these ex-services and ex-children in care people and that'll make the world a much nicer place. The council has a duty to provide accomodation ONLY when the temerature drops to below zero for three consecutive nights. In Weymouth that provision takes the form of charity/volunteer workers doing it for free. When the shelter is open there's no trouble at all from the people using it. The echo must be desperate for a front page story - nothing like bias and stirring up hatred is there?
Genghis, Portland says...
3:49pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Techie wrote:Indeed there isn't. On the one hand it seems that they're all, or mostly all, wasters not deserving the air they breathe. On the other hand they're all, or mostly all, ex-service personnel, and everything is none of their fault whatsoever. Somewhere in between lies the truth. Respect is a two way process. A lot more does need doing to help them back into society or at least for those that want that help. They also need to realise part of this process is taking a bit of responsibility for theirselves and their actions. The rights and needs of the residents and businesses in the area also need to be recognised. It's not right that they should have to put up with some of the antics and behaviour that is caused almost daily by a few individuals.
There's nothing quite like blithe generalisation, is there?
Occasional Reader, says...
4:16pm Sat 4 Jul 09
The headline and opening paras say that drunks ARE driving visitors away and damaging businesses, but further down we read that business owners believe that COULD be happening.
I am as dismayed as anybody else about drunks roaming the streets, whether or not they be long-term vagrants.
However, anybody who watched the recent BBC documentary "Rich, Famous, and Homeless would have learned that all too often it's not a case of 'having got into that situation by choice; and that 'getting themselves back into society' is much easier said than done. One thing is clear.. such people do need help, and driving them from one town to another like medieval lepers helps nobody.
CoogarUK.com, Dorchester says...
4:44pm Sat 4 Jul 09
stephen b., Weymouth says...
4:48pm Sat 4 Jul 09
weymouthuk, Weymouth says...
5:14pm Sat 4 Jul 09
sundayexpat, Dorchester says...
5:31pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Eureka, weymouth says...
5:59pm Sat 4 Jul 09
dopey, says...
6:00pm Sat 4 Jul 09
"Weymouth beach to be special venue for advice on mental health" (story posted 5:20pm today)
Dorset Boy, Wilds of Dorset says...
7:06pm Sat 4 Jul 09
CoogarUK.com wrote:Use the floating Gin Palace's that only leave their moorings once a year (carnival day). I'm sure that the owners would love to see their boats in use.
A floating 'hub' might be a reasonable solution during the summer months. Any volunteers?
Dorset Boy, Wilds of Dorset says...
7:16pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Preston Terra, weymouth says...
7:17pm Sat 4 Jul 09
I think the police will use any excuse they can to avoid tackling those drunks who are making a public nuisance.
Techie, Weymouth says...
9:26pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Dorset Boy wrote:- NHS
Eureka does have a valid point when he says that some of these vagrants need psychological help. This was what Herrison Hospital was used for back in the 60's and 70's, but the NHS in their wisdom decided it had to be closed. Which leaves us with the current problems.
+ la Thatch.
In fact, the beginning of the end for large mental hospitals (and once again this was national and not in some mysterious way unique to Dorset) was first put forward by that well known liberal do-gooder the Rt Hon Enoch Powell.
bedpans, weymouth says...
10:34pm Sat 4 Jul 09
weymouthfox, Weymouth says...
11:52pm Sat 4 Jul 09
Scolopax, Wyke Regis says...
8:47am Sun 5 Jul 09
Get a grip, weymouth says...
3:55pm Sun 5 Jul 09
LCLMT, crossways says...
5:18pm Sun 5 Jul 09
mark@greenhill, weymouth says...
6:44pm Sun 5 Jul 09
It matters not one jot why they decide to live in the manner they choose, round them up everynight and ship them off to Dartmoor.
Eventually the word will get around that we don't want them or their dogs, friends, urine etc all over the streets.
I blame the do gooders who open places like the hub in Dorchester for encouraging these worthless layabouts.
Get a grip, weymouth says...
8:08pm Sun 5 Jul 09
Do not get me wrong I pay tax and expect some of that to be spent on those that need help, but if they refuse help then why should I be expected to put up with their unpleasant behaviour?
Genghis, Portland says...
4:29am Mon 6 Jul 09
LCLMT wrote:It's news because the situation has got so bad again that businesses and residents have had to make yet another appeal for something to be done. Just because they've always been there doesn't reduce the problem. Pretending it isn't happening also won't get anything done. Sad though some of the down and outs' stories are it doesn't take away the effect of their behaviour on those in the vicinity. No they're not all nasty but then again they're not all the little angels who've had such a hard and deprived life that some people would like us to believe.
why is this classed as news? these people have always been there. the only reason it has got worse is because it has been easier for them to buy drugs and alcohol. just because they live rough and drink or get aggresive does not mean that they are all bad people. dont give them money buy them food or something. dont go on about getting the police. just give them a home and a job. theyre not all nasty people. and it CAN happen to anyone. not all of them are homeless on purpose you know!
F1, Weymouth says...
8:21am Mon 6 Jul 09
Get a grip wrote:The trouble is, we would pay the fine for our troubles, where these people dont/cant.
What I do not understand, is if I were to behave in the same way I would expect to spend the night in the Police cells and be up before the Magistrates the next morning. But these people are able to behave as they like, can any of those people who support the drunks explain why? Do not get me wrong I pay tax and expect some of that to be spent on those that need help, but if they refuse help then why should I be expected to put up with their unpleasant behaviour?
freeopinion, Portland says...
9:40am Mon 6 Jul 09
I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T LIKE THE NEW ECHO WEBSITE, Weymouth says...
12:13pm Mon 6 Jul 09
It's outrageous- if these "tramps" can afford cars and petrol to offer a taxi service to give tourists lifts out of Weymouth, they should be able to afford rent for a house.
Once again, it is one rule for drunken, layabout dossers and another for hard working taxi drivers.
I REALLY REALLY REALLY REALLY DON'T LIKE THE NEW ECHO WEBSITE, Weymouth says...
12:14pm Mon 6 Jul 09
Fiiish, Weymouth says...
10:53am Fri 10 Jul 09
Robert Gutteridge, owner of the Tea Cabin
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bungy, weymouth says...
9:44am Sat 4 Jul 09