Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!
Mugging in Seymour Road, Harringay Passage
We just found out from our neighbour, that his friend was mugged last Saturday, around 11pm, while walking past Harringay Passage. He was dragged into the Passage and had his phone, wallet and other valuables stolen. The police acted quickly and searched for the attackers but they were too late. Whas it just an isolated incident? It would be interesting to know what are the crime statistics for this area.
I've lived on the Ladder for over 4 years and felt quite safe here, even when I had to walk alone from the bus stop late at night. But now I am rather scared. I know taking a cab is the safest option after a night out but it's expensive. What we need is more police presence and better street lighting to prevent crime in the first place.
I've lived on the Ladder for over 4 years and felt quite safe here, even when I had to walk alone from the bus stop late at night. But now I am rather scared. I know taking a cab is the safest option after a night out but it's expensive. What we need is more police presence and better street lighting to prevent crime in the first place.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Alison P on
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Anna
That's a horrible story, I'm really sorry to hear about your neighbour's friend.
I just wanted to say that my limited recent experience with the police round here has been very positive. We had someone banging on our door a few weeks ago, at 3.00 am and they wouldn't go away but wouldn't tell us who they were or why they were there. We were worried about opening the door but concerned that they might be in trouble. The police were there within minutes - and I mean fingers of one hand minutes. They dealt very sympathetically with the person (who was drunk and had confused our house with another one, bless ...) and spent quite a bit of time with them outside.
I've lived round here for eight plus years and have only ever heard of a couple of incidents in the passage. I do feel pretty safe around here, certainly when compared to Stroud Green where I lived before. I'm sure next time I walk up the road I'll be a bit careful walking past the passage, but you these things can of course happen anywhere. A colleague of mine was mugged a few months back in Mayfair...
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Permalink Reply by Liz on
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Being a victim of crime,especialy violent crime, is a terrible experience and I wish all those who have passed on their experienceswell.
I would like to say, however, that a young person is far more likely to be the victim of street crime than a perpetrator. Young teenagers are particularly vulnerable and have phones, watches, bicycles stolen from them often in broad daylight. We need to look out for our youngsters and ensure that we are around to protect them from a small minority who prey on them.
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Permalink Reply by Anna T on
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Thank you everyone for sharing your comments.
Hugh , thanks for getting some of the stats so quickly and getting Glynn involved. It is reassuring to know that this appears to be an isolated incident.
James, this is most likely the same incident, but it's possible that my husband got the day wrong.
Colin, I'm very sorry to hear about your experience.
I agree with John and Helen that the more people walk the streets the less dangerous they will be. Annette, I already often walk in the middle of the street - I feel safer that way, just watch out for the cars.
I think that issues highlighted in Helen, Sarah, Liz and Matt's posts are really important and I fully support them.
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Permalink Reply by Sophie BBARR on
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I was mugged for my phone on Lausanne Rd (my own road) at about 8pm a year or so ago, not in the passage. But then I was talking on the phone - but why shouldn't I have been talking on my phone? I ran after him swearing and shouting my head off, but shopping bags and the wrong shoes didn't help me catch up with him. What would I have done if I had caught up with him anyway?
I called the police, not to solve the crime, but because I wanted to log the statistic. It would have involved me going down to Hornsey station and at that time I was so busy that it just didn't happen.
Unfortunately I was mugged by the stereotypical hoodie which I so wish hadn't been the case. I have adjusted my behaviour since the mugging which is no bad thing. I never talk on the phone or use my ipod when I walk around after dark.
I agree with the sentiment to keep walking the ladder - just remove your valuables. But having said that if I visit friends on the ladder I choose to walk Wightman Rd or Green Lanes if I'm on my own. My husband and I use it all the time otherwise. I often wonder if these sorts of crimes are simply a fact of life in the city. I would be interested to hear what others think.
Funny that the mugging was less frightening than some of the more sexual comments/harrassments I've experienced over the years in this area. On more than one occasion I have been followed home and numerous occasions of sexual comments being expressed towards me. These crimes can't be quantified in the same was as a loss of property and invariably get ignored yet I find them more worrying.
Perhaps we should organise a zero tolerance passage walk one night?
Talking of zero tolerance there's someone out there with yellow chalk with zero tolerance for dog poo in the passage - if you're on this site please make yourself known - you're a celebrity in my household!
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Permalink Reply by TTTH on
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I know that Glyn and his team have organised successful "stings" in the past and caught a few perputrators, but apparently this sort of thing happens sporadically and not all the time on the ladder. When the first incident happens, the police should step up surveillance to catch the perputrators. I go back to my previous thread on gating the ladder, opportunists will strike in any area where the lights are dimmer (Quermore Rd where I was mugged) and where there are quick escape routes like the passage. It would be an interesting study to see where the specfic hotspots for robbery in Harringay in the last few years were.
I agree that the majority of youngsters are law abiding, but some of the local kids are drug runners, gang members and involved in this petty crime. They don't understand that their actions can result in victims feeling more vulnerable in their community, and in extreme cases aggrophobic. Forget ASBOs, I think hard community service is needed for a first time offence. Military service and discipline for repeat offenders.
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Permalink Reply by John McMullan on
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My wife gets the same when she walks home from the tube if she goes out by herself. It's shit and a bit scary but please don't let it get to you. Tell your husband as soon as you get home. He didn't see how smelly and fat the man was who said "nice arse", he'll just register "man", "said to me", "nice arse". I do anyway. And I know it's often a bit more forward than that too.
A colleague had his cellphone stolen from him while he was talking on it on Bishopsgate in broad daylight just before christmas by a very cheeky cyclist. I didn't count it as being mugged.
Was the hoodie a tall thin guy with a pale blue hoodie? We (neighbour and I) just looked at him a lot and he went away. He broke into a couple of cars in Lausanne Rd too. This was about a month ago though.
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Permalink Reply by Birdy_Too on
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I too do not use my phone or ipod after dark.
I also only take what I need for that particular walk. If I am walking the dogs, I take my keys and my £10 phone. If I am walking to the shops, I take the money I need.
If I ever did get mugged, they can have my £10 pound phone, because they would be laughed at when using it.
My friend, who lived with me at the time, got top notch phone snatched off him on Ducketts Common. He was a semi-professional footballer so very fit. He ran after him, wrestled the youth to the floor, coolly answered the phone, It was me calling him, and he said, "Can I call you back" and casually walked off. The youth was verbally abusing back after he got up, so my friend approached him again and he legged it.
Not that I would ever recommend this it was quite amusing.
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You know, the Safer neighbourhoods team run personal safety classes. Maybe Glyn can tell us when the next lot are.
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Glyn's promised to post the dates of the next personal safety classes on this site soon.
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Permalink Reply by MARY on
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Yes, there are some good kids out there but in my opinion there are a lot more bad ones around at the moment. I say that as a mum of four two of whom are teenagers, both of them have suffered at the hands of other teenagers i.e mobile phones stolen and in my sons' case violently stolen when he refused to hand it over immediately. The most recent episode occurred on Feb 12th in MacDonalds' restaurant in Green Lanes, broad daylight approx 4.50pm, my 15 year old daughter and her friend were targetted by two teenage girls who tried to steal their food, yes I did mean food, not their phones or money but their food, even though these girls had bought their own food. They first of all snatched it as the assistant put it on the tray at the counter when challenged by staff member they told her not to get involved but they did return it, then they deliberately sat near my daughter and her friend and again came up and grabbed their food when my daughter tried to pull it back she was smacked on the back of the head, had her head yanked back by her hair and then slammed forcefully down onto the table a number of times, she was only saved when her accomplice lost her nerve and sensing that her friend was out of control pulled her away and they walked out the door in a very casual manner obviously this type of behaviour is nothing new to these individuals. The staff and customers in MacDonalds' at the time did absolutely nothing to help just gawped and shrugged their shoulders, they were treated to an even better show when I turned up because I created the biggest fuss since the launch of the 'big mac', and even then when I asked the manageress to call the police she told me to wait because she was busy, busy serving burgers I had to use my daughters' phone to contact the police myself who informed me that it was pointless turning up at that stage but they are investigating the assault as these two have been caught on cctv. My daughter suffered a bruised cheekbone and whiplash as a result of the attack, but the worst part of all this is that she has learned that when something happens you cannot rely on the public to come to your aid, that's probably the saddest thing to come out of all of this, the realization that nobody actually cares and you're on your own if something happens to you, harsh lesson for a 15 year old.
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Permalink Reply by Hugh on
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So sorry to hear about your daughter. It sounds as though it must have been enormously upsetting for the both of you.
Sadly it's true that many people aren't willing to intervene. But thank God that it's not universal.
I'm not sure that there's a simple solution. But one step is for the community to feel some sense of ownership of our patch. Sharing views and getting to know each other a bit on this site, I hope, will be a small contribution. Hope that doesn't sound glib.
And good for you for going in to bat for your daughter. Sweeping things under the carpet won't help at all.
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Thank you so much to everyone for all your kind words of support, it really does help, when something like this happens you feel like you're completely on your own and in view of the attitude on the day and the fuss I had to create to get any sort of reaction I actually thought for one nano second on that afternoon that I was over reacting, but after that my values took over again and I knew that I just couldn't let it go unchallenged. I am very grateful to this site for giving me the opportunity to vent my spleen as it were, and for renewing my faith in human nature and the belief that there are decent people out there who actually do know right from wrong and more importantly it has brought home to me the true meaning of the word community. Thank you again. Mary.
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