Chemist who’s lost his faith in the police and had to hire a security man instead

A CHEMIST’S plagued by lawless teenagers is spending £1,200 a month on a former Royal Marine to protect staff.

The manager of Pharmacy World took the drastic action after his workers endured three months of abuse and attacks.

Richard Lyness lost faith in the police because officers took ten days to respond to one incident when the youths shouted racist abuse, exposed themselves and stole from his shop.

On the occasions the yobs were arrested, he said they were back on the streets of Stockton-on-Tees, Co Durham, within hours.

The long-running battle came to a head after his staff were blockaded in their shop in daylight and, in a separate incident, fireworks were thrown at a family.

‘I’ve lost faith in the police to protect my customers and my staff,’ he said.

‘People are scared to come in and get their flu vaccination. I was threatened by one of the lads who said that he was going to smash my car up while my wife and young son were in it.

‘He then pulled his trousers down and exposed himself. When it was particularly bad I rang 999 three times and they didn’t come out at all. It took ten days.

‘A lot of people in the area are scared to come forward in case they get targeted.’ Mr Lyness said the 25-strong gang of eight to 18-year-olds was notorious for harassing residents, smashing windows and taking drugs.

He said police failed to take adequate action: ‘These are crimes. All they did was take a statement and say we take this very seriously, blah, blah, blah.

‘I’ve had people coming into the shop telling me they’ve been throwing fireworks at them, including a woman with a child. The police are arresting them and as soon as they get released they come back and do it all again.’ The security guard, who gave his name as Scott, works at the phar- macy seven days a week, in the afternoons and evenings. The 30-year-old said: ‘You can chase the youths off and shout at them but they keep coming back.

‘I served in the Royal Marines for nine years. Last year I was at Royal Ascot protecting the Queen, I never thought I would be called in to protect a chemist.’

Chief Inspector Marc Anderson, of the Stockton neighbourhood policing team, said his team met Mr Lyness yesterday to discuss his concerns.

He added: ‘A number of targeted patrols has been deployed to this area over the last few weeks to deal with the issues highlighted.’