‘Something must be done to tackle teenage vandals’
A GROUP of teenagers making neighbours’ lives a misery smeared human excrement over a car window.
Skelmanthorpe resident Tom Gunson says the gang have been causing misery in the village for two months, and that Kirklees Council and West Yorkshire Police have done ‘little, if anything’ to sort out the problem.
Tom, 34, who lives on Wood Street, said bus shelters have been vandalised, a gate had been smashed and his car had been smeared with human excrement in the spate of incidents.
One neighbour even woke one morning to find the culprits had been into her garden and taken plant pots which were thrown into the road.
Meanwhile, Tom’s dog Joey had his paw cut after walking on broken glass from a smashed bus shelter – four days after he said it had happened, and a day after a council worker came to clean it up.
He said he contacted councillor Will Simpson, Dewsbury MP Paula Sherriff and the police.
In an email to Tom, Clr Simpson said cuts had affected the street cleaning service, but he had passed on the complaint to the council and West Yorkshire Police, who he said were looking into the issue. He added: “However it is Christmas and (like all of us!) Council staff deserve a bit of time off, so there will likely be a delay on the response. I am sorry if you’re not happy with this, but I am doing what I can to raise everything that you have informed me about with the right people and I will continue to do so.”
Tom said: “The council basically told me they ‘deserve a holiday as well’ so wouldn’t be able to properly sort the problem. Police just said it was not in their area and signed the case off.
“I know I sound a bit like Victor Meldrew, but the problem has been getting worse for the past four weeks and making people’s lives a misery. When it’s got to the point where my dogs are being injured then it’s not a laughing matter.”