Taking my disabled friend home to Fortuneswell on Portland after the New Year celebrations in Weymouth, the place was a zoo. I parked my car beside Red House Lettings, primary business of County Councillor Tim Munro, and helped David (not his real name) out of the car. I realised quickly that my friend needed help since his only sober lodger, Janey (not her real name) was in tears outside the front of his house.
Pissed, violent teenagers were everywhere. One was drinking half a bottle of beer and throwing the bottles at random people – more of that animal later. David’s back door had been smashed in. Janey was in tears, fearing eviction. I ran out and dialled 999, getting the police to come – they assessed it as a low priority but to their credit would turn up 20 minutes later.
In came a young lady with a bloodied face saying her boyfriend had punched her. Anna (not her real name) and I would get to know one another well. 30 people in drunk and febrile mood, were wandering around. I went out, checked my car and found 3 kids circling it to see if any valuables were inside. The police passed in a Land Rover, slowed down and moved on – everyone started behaving in their view until they passed.
The bottle throwing beast started trying to kick someone’s door in and then the beast was confronted by three men, one of whom he’d hit with a bottle. I jumped in and moved the car round to a quiet pub with adults of drinking age outside. Back to my friend’s on foot… The police arrived, we sorted it out and I was stood down. Anna returned and complained she couldn’t feel her face. David assessed her as needing hospital treatment. I would spend much of the night ensuring that her head injury wasn’t serious at Dorset County Hospital.
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The nearest community to the Olympic Games venues, Fortuneswell should have benefitted, and kids should be enjoying the fruits of the “legacy” of the Games? They haven’t – other than superfast broadband and a new primary school, nothing appears to have come from it for the kids, despite the games being known as the “Festival of Youth”!
David said that the situation above is only a little out of the ordinary. He frequently complains of drunk teenagers being very loud well into the wee hours of a morning. He said “they can’t hold their drink, and behave terribly when drunk”. Sorry to judge teenagers in this way, but 15 and 16 year olds shouldn’t really be pissed and violent on a regular basis should they?
One has to question as to why alcohol is so easily accessible locally? It can’t just be 30 odd sets of parents buying a bottle of vodka for their children?
David and I have been friends for a few years, and it isn’t unusual for me to drop him home at midnight on a Tuesday to see street life as lively as if it was 7 in the evening. The police behave as if they are just trying to stem the flow of problems. All too often I see a police car with its blue lights on, the police playing a serious game of hide and seek around the church with feral kids who have been up to something… When they visited David they asked where the party was but Janey refused to answer, as if in fear of the kids.
North Fortuneswell is one of the most deprived areas in Dorset. For example, of 247 communities in Dorset, it has the third lowest income per head of population in the county. It ranks 6th from bottom in terms of education and skills per head of population. It is 12th from top in terms of crime rate. These statistics can be seen on the Dorset County Council website here. Reading these statistics one has to wonder why it has been a Tory stronghold for so long? Either Tim Munro is a rabid lefty in the Conservative Party, he has a deft hand in campaigning, or perhaps he rents a lot of his property to residents?
Speaking to a youth worker who doesn’t wish to be named, he suggests that “there was a lot of youth work done in Tophill until trouble stopped (including the 2011 “Easton riot”). With that, the funding stopped and the youth work finished.” Funding for “preventative measures” shouldn’t stop when you have prevented another riot for a year or so!
The youth worker suggests that with the youth work going on in Tophill “the problems moved down to Underhill, which is why you saw what you did in Fortuneswell on New Year’s Day”.
The Salvation Army sang carols in a number of areas on the island over Christmas. A Salvation Army soldier I know remembers someone saying “it is really good to see you here. No one remembers us down here when they do something on Portland…”
Asked about political pressure for more funding to help kids in Fortuneswell, the youth worker said “simply, there hasn’t been. It appears no one has been asking their councillor for action to stop the problems”. I have friends in the Parish Council and well know that certain elements on the Council have been asking for something for the kids in Fortuneswell to do for years but have been blocked in the name of cost saving.
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Let us look at Anna, the 16 year old girl who got punched in the face by her drunk boyfriend after picking him off the road in a street fight.
At 0230 I phoned my wife to say I may well be home after dawn since Weymouth Community Hospital was shut and I had to go to Dorchester. Up to the Accident & Emergency, on the way agreeing with Anna that I would not say who punched her on condition she had my number should he hit her again. Anna is a 16 year old alcoholic who left home to live with her boyfriend (lodging with David) after getting some excellent GCSE’s. She missed a period 2 weeks ago so may well be a gymslip Mum in 9 months time.
A&E was quiet for a time. Talking to Anna her life came out and I sat, each time she threatened to leave, pointing out I would get her to her bed in 20 minutes or she would have to walk 12 miles. It makes me laugh that I was made the Responsible Adult by the hospital given my own past, but she wouldn’t tell her Dad or Mum and she had no one else over 18 in this world.
Her sister was killed in a house fire in Weymouth some years ago. Her parents split up and her Mum moved to Poole. Anna fell out with her Dad after getting four good and four terrible GCSE’s, and felt grown up enough to move in with her boyfriend. Talking to her as a reformed alcoholic myself, I can only conclude that alcohol is the major issue that caused her variable GCSE results and her fall out with her father.
Under the new regulations coming in in April, she and her boyfriend will be too young to receive Housing Benefit by 9 years. The Coalition argue that teens should live at home? This won’t be possible in Anna’s case. As it is she was told she didn’t qualify for Income Support. What will happen to her?
I got Anna home at 0400 and clearly the excess alcohol had got to the young drinkers and the streets were quiet. She crept in and half an hour later I was home, my adventure over.
Richard Shrubb
