Streets are no longer safe

What on earth has happened to Chichester?

What was once a quiet, elegant market town, which was a pleasure to visit or live in, has now become somewhere where daily one runs the gauntlet of vile, verbal abuse.

Today I was walking alone up North Street when I was accosted from behind by two youths in their late teens.

They began to taunt and verbally abuse me, the abuse escalating as I challenged the principal perpetrator.

Of course I’m a woman in my mid-70s with silver hair so presumably am seen as an easy target for these cowardly thugs. Had I been a young, male rugby player – and how I wished in those moments that I was – they wouldn’t have dreamt of abusing me.

Needless to say, there were no police around upon whose assistance I could call.

Between anti-social cyclists, threatening the safety of pedestrians on pavements and the pedestrianised areas around the Market Cross, and such appalling verbal abusers as I encountered today, the streets of Chichester are no longer safe for older women.