A small Welsh town has gone ‘absolutely crazy’ with gangs of youths setting toilets and bins up in flames, ‘terrorising’ pensioners and leaving residents petrified to leave their homes after dark.
The town of Blackwood, situated around 15 miles north of Cardiff, has become consumed by gangs of youths ‘causing havoc,’ say residents.
Groups of up to 40 teens running riot have caused such a stir that the town has become a ‘no-go area’ after dark.
Congregating around Blackwood Bus Station, the gangs have smashed windows, set toilets and bins alight and hurled verbal abuse and stones at bus drivers.
Large groups have also been spotted ‘kicking and headbutting’ the windows of local retailers in attempts to gain entry.
In one unprecedented incident, a 14-year-old boy was left ‘petrified’ after being chased through the town by a group of knife-wielding older boys wearing masks before frantically knocking on the door of a family friend’s home to find safety.
And witnesses have reported catching the rascals, supposedly aged ‘anything between 14 and 20,’ throwing missiles over a wall near the town’s market.
Such incidents prompted the town’s Deputy Mayor, George Etheridge, to declare the levels of antisocial behaviour in Blackwood ‘worse than the Bronx.’
Now, Blackwood Town Council have decided ‘enough is enough’ after what they describe as an ‘awful’ few months.
Local councillor Kevin Etheridge told Mail Online: ‘A few weeks ago I wrote to the Crime Commissioner and the Chief Constable and said we need a meeting to sort this out.
‘People just don’t feel safe anymore. We’ve had continual problems around the bus station – toilets and doors have been ripped off the walls, fires have been set off. It’s been absolutely awful.
‘There’s an Iceland next to the station, the kids are going in there, throwing items around, kicking and hitting the windows. They’re riding scooters at a ridiculous pace through the bus station – it’s gone absolutely crazy.
‘When there are issues residents should be able to ring 101, but they’re not doing it anymore because they’ve got no faith that anything is going to change.’
The situation has become so severe that many adults are now too scared to wait for a bus for fear of receiving abuse or being knocked over by scooters.
Local councillor and business owner Andrew Short, who runs a garage opposite the station, has been walking nervous pensioners and vulnerable people to the bus stop from his business to ensure their safety.
‘It’s got to the point in the evenings where it’s simply not safe,’ he told Mail Online.
‘People are scared to cross the road, they’re afraid to leave their cars. Gangs of youths in the bus station are making pensioners too scared to sit at the stop.
‘The damage they’re doing, they’re running riot with the police. We had so many police vans the other day – I haven’t seen anything like it here before.
‘Women, pensioners, vulnerable people, we’ve got to walk them to the bus stop. It’s gone too far.
‘During the night we lock this building as tightly as we can. There’s gangs and gangs and gangs of youths running around the place.
‘These kids, they’ve got nothing to do around here, there’s nothing for them. There needs to be something for them to do.’
Local gym Snap Fitness, situated just a stones throw from the bus station, have too had problems with teens causing havoc.
In CCTV footage shared with Mail Online, for instance, after sneaking their way into the gym, youths can be seen spraying aerosol into a member’s eyes.
Gym manager Iwan Thayer said: ‘The kids range from around 14 to 17. We’ve got the doors locked but they wait for members to leave and quickly sneak in when they leave the door open.
‘They came in and locked themselves in the disabled toilet with a yoga ball one night. When a member walked past, one of them sprayed him in the face with aerosol.
‘This type of stuff could stop members coming to the gym. It could affect business.
‘One of the kids chased another (the 14-year-old) with a knife recently. You see all of this stuff in London but knives in a little valleys town is so unusual. It’s nuts.’
Alun, who owns local store Heart of the Valley Records, recalls almost being hit by ‘whizzing’ teens on e-scooters while leaving work one day.
‘There’s gangs of teens running riot around here,’ he told Mail Online.
‘I stepped out the door one day and one shot past me on his scooter and nearly hit me. I thought, wow, close one. I took another step and another one nearly hit me from the other side.
‘Someone’s going to step out and get hurt soon.’
News of the disruption in the area comes at a time where local authority Caerphilly County Borough Council have announced major cuts in an attempt to deal with a £47 million shortfall. Such cuts could potentially see community wardens removed from Blackwood.
A statement from Blackwood Town Council read: ‘We are deeply concerned about the Welsh Government’s decision to cut funding for community support officers, as well as Caerphilly Council’s plan to axe community safety wardens, both of which play crucial roles in maintaining our safety.
‘Despite these challenges, the resilience and spirit of Blackwood’s residents and independent businesses remain strong.
‘A comprehensive plan is now underway to tackle this behaviour, and we anticipate a real and sustained decline in incidents that cause distress in our community.
‘Our town is vibrant, welcoming, and very much open for business.’
Gwent Police have issued a number of dispersal orders in the area to try and tackle the incident, most recently for two days from January 16.
Last week, Blackwood Town Council held a three-hour meeting with the police force to ‘urge the full use of available powers against the offenders.’
Chief Inspector of Gwent Police, Stevie Warden, has ensured residents that police have ‘increased patrols, implemented dispersal orders where necessary and arrested several people on suspicion of public order offences.’
He added in a statement: ‘Our officers continue to work with our community safety partnership to do all we can to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in the town.
‘The bus station, for instance, is one of our known areas for ASB and that is factored into our daily patrols. We also have tailored plans for Op Lumley, a force-wide initiative set-up to tackle anti-social behaviour in hot-spot areas.
‘We are aware of the recent reports of disorder over the last few weeks and councillors’ concerns, and we continue to work collaboratively with partner agencies to tackle this.
‘In the last two weeks we’ve issued numerous dispersal orders, arrested and charged a 17-year-old girl for breaching a community protection notice (CPN) and we will continue to carry out regular patrols in the area and take appropriate action against ASB.
‘Positively, we’ve seen a decrease in ASB in Blackwood in recent days, but our work does not stop here. Tackling the issue goes beyond just policing, we would ask parents, guardians and carers to consider – do you know where your children are socialising, and do you know if they’re involved in what is being reported to us?
‘And we urge them to have conversations to help these young people understand that not only are these actions having a negative impact on those around them, that any offences committed by them could negatively impact their futures – whether that’s stopping from getting their dream job, applying for a car loan, or the chance to travel.’