Hundreds of teenagers swarm estate as fires set and police called

The teens have been drawn into the area by posts made on social media.

A group of ‘hundreds’ of youths have descended on an estate with police saying they have set fires, stolen from a local shop, fought in the street and hurled food at residents.

The teen yobs are said to have swarmed on Southglade Park in Bestwood over the past week, drawn by the heatwave and social media posts, reports the Mirror.

Local residents have reported some of the “mad behaviour” of the group, with one shop forced to temporarily close after hundreds of pounds worth of goods was stolen.

Nottinghamshire Police confirmed it received reports of youths fighting, setting small fires, abusing shop staff, throwing stones, intimidating people and riding bikes in front of moving vehicles, leading to the force having to issue a 48-hour dispersal order across the estate starting on Wednesday, May 27, which was later extended to yesterday morning.

The Premier convenience store on Southglade Road explained how it closed its doors for a combined 10 hours over three days amidst the chaos.

Shop assistant, Suthan Maniam, reported up to 200 teenagers, aged between 13 and 17, gather at the park opposite the shop and believed most of them were coming from outside the local area, after social media posts advertised water pistol fights.

Mr Maniam said teens went on to steal hundreds of pounds worth of ice creams and soft drinks from the shop. He also said he saw people being “pushed” into buses and a heavy sign was also thrown towards a group.

“It’s very mad behaviour. It’s when it’s especially warm days or school has been off,” he said. “They’re very rude. They start with water [in the water guns] and then put in sticky soft drinks.

Advertisement

“No one is going to listen, that’s the problem. I’ve never seen this kind of behaviour but we can’t do anything about it.”

Mr Maniam hoped the dispersal order would make things better, adding: “They don’t want to enjoy the summer, they need to do some antisocial behaviour.

“When they assemble as a group it’s different behaviour. When they come as smaller groups they’re alright.”

A video posted to TikTok showed a huge group of youths gathered in the car park and the street outside the Premier, while another shows a tree and bushes engulfed in flames with the caption: “Casual day in Southglade yesterday”.

A local mum, who did not wish to be named, said a pint of milk was chucked over her daughter by a member of the group in the street.

“She had to get changed. They threw it across the road and it went all over her clothes,” she said.

Another woman said she was planning to have a barbecue with her son at the park, but had decided against it due to the antisocial behaviour.

“It puts adults like ourselves off from doing things,” she said. “We should be able to go out in the community and socialise but when they’re acting like ****heads we can’t.”

However, the 36-year-old, who did not wish to be named, said she had some sympathy for the kids.

“If there were things for kids to do it wouldn’t be so bad. They’re bored and have got nothing to do. I was a rebel at 13.”

Pensioner Janet Stanley, who lives opposite the field, said she had seen hundreds gather but described them as “nice people”. The 82-year-old, who has lived there for six decades, said she had seen kids fighting but that they were always friendly to her.

“I don’t mind them. I wave at them out the window and they always wave back. They’re just having fun and sometimes someone will say something [and they’ll fight],” she added.

When Nottinghamshire Live visited the park on Thursday, litter was strewn across the streets, outside the Premier and all over the field and multi-use games area.

Rob Mabbott, a volunteer litter picker, was out cleaning up after the teenagers and said it made him “wonder why you bother”.

“It’s just terrible. You try and do your best and just want to make the environment nice and safe for kids, ironically,” said the 58-year-old.

“I thought we’d better see if there’s anything we can help with for those people that are law-abiding and like to live in a nice place. It’s worse than I thought. It was only done a week ago.

“It does make you wonder why you bother. It certainly wasn’t like this when I was a kid in the ’70s.”

Mr Mabbott, who has been litter-picking since 2012, said he and his colleague expected to fill up to eight bags between them.

Sergeant Rose Barton of Nottinghamshire Police said: “Our neighbourhood policing team has received a stream of separate reports of antisocial behaviour in and around Southglade Park in recent days.

“While we’re aware the mixture of the warm weather, Bank Holiday weekend and half term will, quite rightly, lead to young people wanting to hang out with their friends, there is a point where a line is crossed.

“That has now taken place, with the numerous reports of antisocial behaviour severely impacting on the local community, which has prompted us to make the decision to issue this dispersal order and then extend it for longer.”

Get more Daily Record exclusives by signing up for free to Google’s preferred sources. Click HERE.