WALTHAMSTOW: Angry residents consider action over gangs

11:30am Thursday 28th February 2008

SOME householders are thinking of setting up patrols to combat a gang terrorising their neighbourhood.

People living in Carr Road and Winns Terrace say the teenage group are responsible for a rise in attacks on houses, shops and cars, as well as vandalism in neighbouring Lloyd Park, Walthamstow.

Resident Orla Leland said: "It has now reached the stage that I don't feel safe in my own living room."

Her front window has been smashed and her car repeatedly vandalised.

She added: "This is not a personal attack on us. Windows have been broken and cars broken into in numerous other properties on this road."

Residents say police have told them they cannot act without any evidence or descriptions of the group, who wear hoodies to hide their identities.

One shopkeeper said the gang regularly pulled down his shop's metal shutters, trapping people inside.

"Customers get very scared when it happens.

"The shutters are old and they make such a big noise," said Selvavinayagam Var-atharatan, who works at the Winns Store newsagents.

Computer engineer Kieron McDonald, who lives in Carr Road with his partner, said he was worried for his family's safety.

He said: "My partner is expecting a child any day. The last thing we want is a brick coming through the windoI am very worried." Another person living nearby, who did not wish to be identified, said their window had been broken three times in a week.

Some residents now plan to instal their own CCTV cameras in their homes. Mr McDonald said: "The council has been really helpful to be fair, but they said they can't install CCTV cameras in the street because it's not a crime hot spot."

However, not everyone has been targeted.

Resident Joseph Edwards said: "They just walk past me. They don't mess with me, but it is a problem.

"They need security 24 hours a day, walking up and down this road and around the area."

Another person living in Carr Road, who did not wish to be named, said: "There are always gangs around here."

"When I phone the police they don't come immediately. Sometimes it takes them 15 to 20 minutes just to answer the phone."

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