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GANGS of brick-throwing yobs have taken over a derelict house at Stourbridge on the Stourbridge Canal throwing bricks at the moored and visiting boats.
There have been a spate of attacks, with near misses that could easily have resulted in the death of a boater. One boater on the Caldon Canal was put in hospital after being hit by a brick dropped from the disused railway bridge, Alan Tilbury relates.
Angry and frustrated
Members of the Stourbridge Navigation Trust are angry and frustrated as talking to the perpetrators has no effect, and Colin Clements, Stourbridge Navigation Trust, Director, warned:
"It has got worse over the last three or four months, half-house bricks are just the right size to come over, this is the worst it has ever been. We have tried talking to them and asking would they throw bricks in their own road, they say we can't prove it was them."
The Trust's Chairman, Graham Debney, added:
"They are using that house as a fort, this place is plagued with vandals and if one of those bricks hits anybody it will kill them."
Over 20 yobs
 In the latest incident a gang of over 20 yobs threatened to damage boats during a confrontation with a boater after bricks were thrown over a canalside fence onto his boat.
Attacks on boats moored at the Bonded Warehouse at Canal Street, are causing boaters to consider leaving the site which would mean a loss of income to the Trust, that operated the moorings and which is home for community groups, but it is getting very dangerous.
The police have told trust members they are aware of anti social behaviour issues alongside canals in Stourbridge, and neighbourhood officers for Wollaston and Stourbridge Town will be patrolling in the area. |
