Boy punched at show
A POPULAR village dog show erupted into violence, with a teenager punched in the face.
The event, held at Higham Memorial Hall field in north Kent was started five years ago by Rachel Hodges, 49, and her mum Val Pascoe, 73.
But the show on Monday which attracted more than 2,000 people and 1,000 dogs, was hit by anti-social behaviour including a 15-year-old allegedly being punched by a motorist because he didn’t like his parking space.
Mrs Hodges, from Gravesend, says she and her friend have had enough and have pulled the plug on next year’s competition.
She said: “We’re not doing it next year. We’re just a family running it and it was meant for local people but it’s just grown and grown and we’ve got too big.
“My friend’s 15-year-old son was hit when he was trying to help someone find a parking space. He was very shocked.
“If we did the show again we’d probably need a security team and so we decided to just stop. I can’t put my family and friends at risk. It’s just sad that people want to do this.”
Police said they attended the show but only had one call which complained about the number of people parked near the venue making it difficult to drive through the village.