Browse Sections

• Education
• Special reports

999 yobs strike again

16/ 5/2008

THE "very good relationship" between fire services and youths in Collyhurst took a turn for the worst recently.

In a blog on the Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue website, Keiran Gillam, a firefighter at Manchester Central fire station, described how his crew had stones thrown at them while putting out a fire on Dalton Street.

"We were met by verbal abuse from several youths for no apparent reason" he wrote. "They were also threatening to start more fires.

"Later, we were turned out again to the same area to be met by the same youths, this time they were a bit further away but still shouting verbal abuse and then starting to throw stones.

"This is the first time in five years I have experienced this. We usually have a very good relationship with the young people in Collyhurst."

The crew called the police, who soon drove away the yobs.

A spokesman for the fire service said: "There was no direct hit from the stones to the fire fighters or applicances.

"To put the incident into context, there have been 34 incidents of hostility in the north Manchester area in the past year, from April 2007 to April 2008.

"In that time, there has been 166 hostilities across the city. We class hostilities as everything from spitting to physical assualt.

"By attacking officers or appliances, these people are putting others at an increased risk.

"To combat this, we have taken steps such as putting CCTV on the appliances, which has seen a reduction in such incidents, and firefighters have also been given hostility training from the police. They have been trained to read body language and understand their legal rights and requirements.

"To be frank, the majority of people treat us really well, they recognise the contribution we make in maintaining their safety, it's just the actions of a small minority that can have a large impact."

Chief Inspector Steve McFarlane, from North Manchester Police, added: "Anti-social or nuisance behaviour of any kind is unacceptable and we will not tolerate it.

"The emergency services have a duty to protect the public and should not have to face obstructive or abusive behaviour.

"It is a criminal offence to hinder the work of any emergency service while they are responding to an incident and offenders will be made an example of if they caught acting in this way."