Shops ‘don’t need the hassle’ after Saturday night’s fight
Tuesday 14th July 2009, 2:29PM BST.
Mark Holmes, of the Pollet Pharmacy, with the window which had to be replaced yesterday after a fight outside the premises. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0806038)
THE manageress of the Pollet Pharmacy has criticised ‘mindless’ thugs who smashed through its window during a weekend fight.
Basia Pace, who also runs Lloyds Pharmacy in the Arcade, said stating that she was frustrated would be putting it mildly.
‘It’s just mindless,’ she said. ‘It’s not only the damage, but the phone calls in the middle of the night and having to deal with all the hassle on Sunday.
‘I assume our insurance will pay for the damage, but I dread to think of the cost.’
Mark Holmes, pharmacist at the Pollet shop, said it was a needless incident that had caused the business a lot of hassle.
‘It has been boarded up and we are replacing the window at the moment,’ he said yesterday morning.
‘It’s a hassle because the window display has been destroyed, so we cannot show any of our perfumes off to the tourists coming in on the cruises. It could lose us some business.
‘But it’s also the inconvenience of having to hire someone this morning to come and replace the window as a matter of urgency for safety reasons.’
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It’s about time something was done to control this sort of incident in town. I wouldn’t wish to deny people having a few drinks, enjoying themselves and being high-spirited. But when it crosses the boundary into loutish and threatening behaviour, excessive drunkenness, bad language, etc then I believe the authorities need to act at ground level straightaway.
How about on the spot fines for the above, say £80, or else you take your turn in court and try to convince the magistrate you were not behaving unreasonably. Three of these and you go to court anyway. The police should be able to distinguish between what is exuberance and high spirits (acceptable) and what is unacceptable.
I suppose though I would be told that this will not solve the problem as it is inbred in these sort of people and they will simply find somewhere else to be loutish. Or else it would be unfair, or difficult to enforce, or a drain on resources.
It would just be nice to think that our quaint town could be enjoyed in the evenings, not avoided.
Any else got any suggestions?
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Valdubon – I agree there is a difference between high spirits and loutish behaviour and that the police should be able to distinguish the difference. The problem when dealing with people who have consumed excessive alcohol is that it often takes very little to change high spirits into anti-social behaviour, aggression or even violence. I know from personal experience that when I used to get drunk my mood could rapidly change from silly tomfoolery to depressed and aggressive in a matter of minutes. Alcohol is, after all, a depressant that inhibits our brains from functioning properly.
How to deal with the problem? well, at the risk of sounding simplistic, the law is already in place that makes drunkenness in public an offence; also serving intoxicating liqour to drunk people. I suggest one solution is to actually enforce this law. Simply walking around town on a Saturday night or visiting one of Guernsey’s nightclubs is ample demonstration that on the whole, the authorities turn a blind eye.
Zero tolerance policing may not be the most agreeable method but it is effective. I suppose one way of looking at it is to say that until people can behave like grown ups, they should be treated like children.
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I agree on the zero tolerance stance but suspect because of the human rights nonsense, it can only be words, not deeds. The UK streets are after closing for pubs and clubs full of virtual drunken untouchables. The same nonsense applies in our schools as the threatened punishment is a mere inconvience which does nothing to recalibrate the thinking of the offender. Common sense along with common decency has unfortunately been placed and lost in a cupboard somewhere. I just hope that one day they will be both found and let out so that they can once again be the standard for most of our society.
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Bring back weekend bang ups. Also introduce menial jobs for those offenders to do during the day to earn time off of their sentence.
Time spent at the waste separation facility or litter picking would wise most up. If it didn’t town would be given a break from the louts whilst they are doing their stretch.
Most importantly make the offender pay for all the costs incurred by the offence. A fine is all well and good but everybody should be compensated including the taxpayers.
All too often losers are left off lightly because they are just that!
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Paul Le P
I also agree with your comments. Licensees seem to care more about their profits than they do about their customers. If one has had enough, these days, then the customer will be either flat on their back or causing a nuisance to others before they are ejected from the establishment.
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i notice there is no concern for the injured man and all the shop keeper cares about is money . His window was fixed and im sure he is trading again and only lost custom for the minimal of hours.
There are always problems when alcohol is abused and people get drunk and can not control otherewise untimidating events. Maybe better policing is needed , and stricter laws on underage drinking . Also maybe cctv cameras should be strategicly placed to pick more than they did that night!
I totaly agree with paul when he said “Saturday night or visiting one of Guernsey’s nightclubs is ample demonstration that on the whole, the authorities turn a blind eye.”
Guernsey is only small it cant be that hard to police,and it is small enough for everyone to know whats going on with who and what time!
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Zero tolerance is the only way to control these mindless idiots. I agree that on the spot fines should be dished out but at a level that will make people think twice – I don’t think 80 pounds is enough – make it something like 250 or even 500 pounds.
I also agree with Paul, it’s about time the current Laws are enforced.
Guernsey is getting worse by the week for crime and it’s about time the Police and the Courts work together and dish out some harsh penalties / sentences – even making an example of a few people.
There is no place on the Island for larger louts !!!!
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……..oh presumably these thugs are going to be made to pay for the damage ????
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I dont know the men involved. Nor the Shop staff. But im sure the men did not mean to smash through the window. After all, one man was seriously injured and had glass stuck in his neck. Yes i agree the fight should not have happened, but for all we know one man could have been standing infront of the window and been violently attacked. I am not saying this is what happened, but we do not possess full facts. The shop is getting free publicity via the GP now anyway.
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And I’m sure that publicity is going to bring thousands of new customers to the shop GsyGal….
People will come from afar to see the smashed window in the pollet pharmacy, cruise ships and travel agents will be inundated with requests to come to Guernsey, old folk will be able to tell their grandchildren of the time in 2009, long long long before your time of that sight to behold, in turn their grandchildren’s, children’s, children will pay homage to what was once a great window…
In a nut shell, I’m sure he would rather his window wasn’t smashed in the first place. :-)
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Ben: To be honest I dont see how not having perfumes in a window will have an impact on business. What i was saying is, many people in town tend to go to Boots pharmacy as it is in the centre of town, therfore with an article in the paper the pollet pharmacy may begin to get more customers.
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I have been off the Island for some seven months. I have yet to witness one iota of violence, or indeed drunkeness…where am I..I am in the South of France where drink is available at virtually all hours. People just do not seem to have the need to abuse the access to alcohol.The environment and the society in which people live must have some pressure to bear on the behaviour of its citizens.I think many people in Guernsey recognise there is something very wrong, if not indeed warped, about public behaviour on the Island.
On a lighter note I see John has “it in” for,and I quote ‘ larger louts ‘. This is surely a bias against the smaller hooligan….I bet he doesn’t like Hells Angles either!
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“To be honest I dont see how not having perfumes in a window will have an impact on business”
its called advertising…..
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Well, I’m a Guernseyman who has lived in the centre of town until recently, and was woken up incessantly by drunks shouting and arguing. If they didn’t wake me, they would wake my dog / child / wife / tenants. The result is that was is impossible to sleep. I’ve repeatedly asked the police, who say that there is more malicious damage per capita in Guernsey than most parts of the UK. One of the problems for them is apparently that when they make an arrest then that puts the officer concerned off the street for several hours whilst he/she ‘processes’ the accused.
I think there can be about 1,000 drunks, many of them belligerent, stumbling around when the clubs close. With 20 police to control the mob, that’s pretty scary. I guess the excess drinking is a result of bored disaffected people who in other societies would not have either the spending power or access to such cheap alcohol – you certainly don’t see this behaviour in other countries (apart from the UK, but the recession should stop that).
I’ve actually watched one of these morons, and there are a lot of them, believe me, punch his fist through a neighbour’s window. They’ve broken my windows, repeatedly smash bottles against my railings, defecate in my yard. My house generates over £6,000 p/a in TRP for the States. But there appears to be no incentive to deal with the problem, which, after all, could be solved by draconian on the spot fines for disorderly behaviour combined with staggered closing times.
I’ve left Guernsey.
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20?! you wish…
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Cheap Alchohol! you’re wishing again…
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does anyone know if the individuals responsible have been caught & if so prosecuted?
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