Child of four is labelled a ‘danger’ on town hall list

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD and a 106- year- old are among 25,000 people on town hall ‘danger lists’, it was revealed yesterday.

Officials say those on the ‘cautionary contacts lists’ should not be allowed into council buildings and workers should not visit their homes alone.

More than a third of those on the lists are considered potentially violent. Others pose a risk of sexual assault, have extremist connections, have displayed racist behaviour, or are just a nuisance, details disclosed by councils showed.

The Local Government Association said the lists were kept ‘purely to protect staff’. It added that the records were in line with data protection laws and town halls were installing ‘robust systems to safeguard confidential information’.

Among those on the lists is a man who has ‘a samurai sword over his front door and a mallet by his bed’; another who tried to run over two council workers with a van; and a man who tried to imprison an electrician who he accused of fiddling his electricity bill.

A 93-year-old is listed because of fears of his ‘vicious dog’, while others were flagged up because of racist incidents.

One man in Brent, north-west London, called staff ‘monkeys’ and said he wanted ‘to speak to a human being’. Another demanded to choose the ethnicity of any council worker she spoke to.

One four-year- old in Essex was marked as ‘physically or sexually threatening’, while other young children were listed because of the behaviour of adults living in their household. The 106-year-old, from central Bedfordshire, is still on the list ten years after being flagged as ‘a risk to self and others’. Some 250 people are named for sexual harassment, sexual behaviour or abuse, including one who sent ‘inappropriate texts’ to council staff.

The danger lists, disclosed following Freedom of Information requests made by the Press Association, name 8,700 people thought to pose a risk of violence. More than one in five are marked as people who should not be visited by staff alone, or by a woman, or, in some cases, at all.

Many local authorities have prepared guides to say who should be listed, including people who are regarded as ‘unreasonable’ – in other words, a nuisance.

The electrician who was held against his will resulted in a listing in Lambeth, south London, for the man who locked him up after he noticed a discrepancy on his meter. The electrician persuaded his captor to release him by saying he needed a fuse from his van.

The LGA said: ‘Councils have a duty of care to their employees to ensure they are safe and aware of risks when carrying out their work.’