Action plea against boozers

12:00pm Wednesday 9th January 2013 in News By Wendy Brading

CALLS have been made to stop drunks wreaking havoc at a gateway to Colchester.


Colchester commuter Steven Eke said gangs of drinkers congregate at the St Botolph’s underpass leaving pedestrians running the gauntlet of abuse and intimidation.


Now he has called for something to be done to resolve the social menace as a matter of urgency.

Comments(12)

Feisty CBC says...
12:37pm Wed 9 Jan 13

I have passed through the subway on numerous occasions in recent weeks and the worst I've seen is a few sipping their tipple of choice.

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Bert_Stimpson says...
1:23pm Wed 9 Jan 13

Why don't they turn firsts*ite into a wet zone for drunks? It is perfect. Nice and dry, out of the way, no one else goes in there. Seems a shame to have spent £28m on a building that is never used. Get the drinkers off the streets and into the new firsts*ite wet zone. The creative 'elite' (aka firsts*ite spongers) could call it a modern human art installation.

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TheCaptain says...
1:44pm Wed 9 Jan 13

Feisty CBC wrote:
I have passed through the subway on numerous occasions in recent weeks and the worst I've seen is a few sipping their tipple of choice.
The have a tendency to tell me jokes as I pass through

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zt00013 says...
3:39pm Wed 9 Jan 13

I'm not sure how much of a social menace those homeless drinkers are, the ones i've spoken to have been very nice and quite frankly make you feel very sorry for them. Why are some people so scared of everything without thinking about what their scared of??

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sandgronun64 says...
6:03pm Wed 9 Jan 13

That's care in the community for you.

These people have problems and the surrounding community doesn't care.

They need help not condemnation.

I don't find them threatening but do understand how they could seem so in this remote location. If someone were attacked by another in this place, with all the surrounding traffic noise, and with its being sunken below street level, who would hear any cries for help?

That is why people feel threatened and these unfortunate social 'outcasts' feel safe there. It is remote, not overlooked, not well policed and yet still quite central.

I sympathise (to a certain extent) with both sides here.

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the mighty wah says...
12:41am Thu 10 Jan 13

Walked through there scores of times over the years and have never been abused once even when there has been up to 25 drinkers. Had i have looked at them like they were freaks or scum (as some seem to think) then maybe i would have been subject to some deserved abuse.

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Boris says...
1:53am Thu 10 Jan 13

It seems Mr Eke is on his own in calling for action against this alleged "menace" and imagined "havoc".
I agree with just about everyone so far, these people are harmless.
It is true there was a rape in that roundabout garden some years ago, but sadly that can happen pretty well anywhere in Colchester, and we have not heard of any repetition.

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Jess Jephcott says...
5:49pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Whenever I have walked through there with a guided tour group, I have never experienced any trouble with these street folk. I am simply amazed by how they people choose to live. There has to be another way - but who am I to tell people how to live their lives?

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Captain SpaceAce says...
6:33pm Thu 10 Jan 13

As much as I'd love to agree with you, I have walked through there with my 12 year old daughter whilst they are swearing at each other at the top of their voices, and, on one occasion, one of them was peeing openly. It's not nice. It's also the main way for us to get into town without having to go out of the way or traverse the busy road.

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Captain SpaceAce says...
6:33pm Thu 10 Jan 13

As much as I'd love to agree with you, I have walked through there with my 12 year old daughter whilst they are swearing at each other at the top of their voices, and, on one occasion, one of them was peeing openly. It's not nice. It's also the main way for us to get into town without having to go out of the way or traverse the busy road.

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Hamiltonandy says...
11:35pm Thu 10 Jan 13

As sangronun says, care in the community is lacking for these unfortunate people. It did not help when councillor Young proposed a "drunk zone" where the problem could be hid away. These people need help. For example, some ex-soldiers can end up drinking heavily after past experiences in war zones. In a civilised society we should try to help those with problems instead of treating them like lepers. I have a relative who served in Iraq, Afghanistan and now sent to the Falkland islands. Time will tell if he will cope in civi street after the things he has seen.

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Town8 says...
10:44pm Mon 14 Jan 13

It seems a lot of you enjoy their presence. Why not just invite them round so you can clear up after them every day?

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