Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Incident on Umfreville Road, 8.50 pm Wed 1st March
Hi
Just for your information, my sister-in-law was walking up our road from Green Lanes, when 3 young people that were sitting on the low walls outside our house (where the roads narow) attacked her, one coming up from behind, pushing her over, and kicking her and attempting to take her bag.
Obviously very shocking and unsettling for her, and she is battered and bruised and scared.
I do often look outside suspiciously at people that hang around on these walls, but this is almost the first time that I have ever known of something happening in 15 years, So I do not want to make people paranoid, but, if you live on the ladder in the same sort of place that I do, be aware. The wider pavement and the low wall makes this a common area to hang around, and the nearness of Harringay Passage makes for an easy escape route for any criminals. And the opportunists that attacked her again may choose a similar spot on one of the other roads on the ladder to smoke, drink and look out for victims
Also, to my shame, I heard her crying out, just outside our house, but thought it was just kids mucking around, So, I suppose, even if it is jt looking through the curtain, please do not ignore cries which may be for help. You might be able to help someone.
Also, my sister-in-law got no idea of their appearance, although I knocked on some doors, and a neighbour's daughter did see them and is giving a description to the police. There were 3 of them she said they looked about 15, and were obviously looking for trouble, and she thought she heard them smashing bottles, which they must have been doing as there is lots of broken glass there.
The police came by car in a matter of minutes. They did not look much older than 15 themselves to me, but they drove my sister-in-law around to see if they could recognise anyone hanging around.
Anyway, if any of you did see anything this evening, or have anything useful to tell the police, do please get in touch.
Thanks
Richard
Tags for Forum Posts: crime
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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Barriers like they used to have at Oxford Circus? If we widen the road that will mean cars can go faster.
People dump rubbish all over the place, the barriers are unlikely to do anything other than stop pedestrians being able to move from one side of the road to the other. The passage is quite narrow in paces but that doesn't stop people leaving rubbish there.
it might help make these area less attractive to hang around
Because we don't want to live in a place that's attractive to hang around in, do we?
I do like the flower beds idea though. It has been tried further up the ladder but nobody seems to maintain the flowers, so they're sort of just dirt/cat pooh beds.
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Permalink Reply by Mrs Baylis on
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hi John,
I think you're missing my point a bit.
I don't know about the barriers at Oxford Circus, I meant the metal barriers/fences they have at the ends of the passage on some of the other roads in the ladder e.g Seymour Road.
Widening the road could make people go faster which is why I suggested adding speed bumps to counteract that.
I don't want the place to be unattractive, I just think that the low walls, whether with flower beds or not, seem to encourage groups of teenage boys to hang around causing a nuisance and the wide pavements encourages the dumping of huge amounts of old junk and furniture. It seems to be very easy to drive up, dump a lot of rubbish and drive off.
My flat is right next to one of these low walls so we have had first hand experience of the piles of junk, and of groups of teenagers sitting there for several hours at a time swearing, playing music through their mobiles and smoking weed. My husband was told, when he asked them to be quiet: "I'm going to burn your F***ing house down".
I don't feel that any of that is particularly attractive!
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Permalink Reply by Pinenut on
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I live in Falkland rd and we have metal railings at the entrance to the ally - we don't have a problem with people loitering at this part of the road as there is nowhere for them to sit - I can see that having low walls would offer the opportunity to sit and 'hang around’ We have a school on this road too so there are lots of other traffic speed reducing humps and the road is slightly reduced in width at the alley too, which helps with speed. I agree that metal railings may be better than walls as there is nowhere to sit
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I was intentionally missing your point to make my own. Obviously I'm not very good at that so I won't do it again.
Your main reason for wanting the environmental changes you're asking for seems to be the teenage boys that hang about on the low walls. Can I just point out that they're not encouraged to hang out there, they just have nowhere else more attractive to go.
Always, always be civil. No matter how rude they are to you. When you turn your back on them or be rude back you just reinforce their opinion of you. It's counter-intuitive but it works for me. "I'll burn your f*cking house down" should be responded to with "Come on, I only asked you to turn the music down a bit". They're not really teenage arsonists, they're just young men with nothing to do and nowhere to go.
There are lots of big strong men around the ladder who would probably be willing to stand beside you while you had a polite word with them. It's not cowardly, after all, there's more than one of them. It is "Dad's night" in the Salisbury tomorrow night if you would like to send your hubby down to meet some of us.
I know this is not always possible but try to get to know kid's names and where they live. This is what knowing your neighbours is good for. Basic stuff really but you do tend to see red when someone threatens to burn your house down. Being called by your name is nice.
If you really feel like escalating things despite all this, take their photos and get the garden hose through the flat. I bet Paulie would.
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You're also a bit patronising and good at stating the obvious :o)
that aside, Richard's original post was reporting a mugging carried out by teenagers who had been sitting on the walls. This is what my suggestion about removing the walls was a response to. I thought that it might also help reduce dumping of rubbish and general disturbance and went on to give examples of what I had witnessed rather than just generalising with no substance.
Teenagers - fine. Violence/rudeness/dumping rubbish for others to deal with (and no, I'm not saying that's done by teenagers!) - not fine. Now its me that's stating the obvious but I obviously didn't explain properly the first time!
As I responded to Paulie below, there was no escalation.
cheers
Mrs B
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I am super patronising, I know. You proposed removing a nice spot to sit in the sun so as to widen the road and put in yet another speed hump. I guess I saw red. Sorry.
Almost all teenagers are rude. Male teenagers are often violent.
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If they really are there for that long smoking weed, just call the Police. If every time they sit down for a spliff, a panda car turns up and confiscates their stash, they'll soon find somewhere else to smoke it.
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Permalink Reply by PaulG on
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"Mrs Baylis 4 hours ago
we have had first hand experience of the piles of junk, and of groups of teenagers sitting there for several hours at a time swearing, playing music through their mobiles and smoking weed. My husband was told, when he asked them to be quiet: "I'm going to burn your F***ing house down"."
Were the police called? If not, they should have been. If they stayed where they were after making the threat they could have been caught there and then?
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Hi Paulie,
no, they left immediately afterwards. It was a couple of years ago now.
We didn't want them to be arrested/cautioned, just to be a bit more considerate. I think calling the police would have escalated things unnecessarily.
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Have the Police bothered to look at the CCTV footage from the cameras on the passage?
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There is one CCTV camera in the passage between Fairfax and Effingham. It's not switched on as far as I know.
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errr....... why not?
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