'Return of the Walsall wee': Calls for more police as urine yobs return
A businessman who set up a covert camera and shamed vandals who were caught urinating on his property is now facing a new problem – after an abandoned vehicle was left outside his base.
Chris Norton set up a Twitter account called @UrineWatch in order to expose yobs who were regularly urinating outside his Norton Podiatry practice.
He then proceeded to post pictures of around 40 people caught in the act.
After a relatively quiet period, he now claims the area on Bradford Street has ‘become a toilet again’ and is trying to get rid of a Volkswagen Beetle left outside of a restaurant next to his practice.
This has once again sparked calls from Mr Norton for a bigger police presence in the town centre.
He said: “Last year there was quite a lot of attention in the media on the problems with anti-social behaviour in our town centre and I think that did lead to the problems outside my business stopping for a short while. Now they are back with a vengeance.
“It is worse than before. I have seen people openly taking heroin in an abandoned car left by my practice and once again, I am getting yobs urinating up my wall every single day.
“I catch them on camera but they need to be caught in the act I have been told.
“I think there should be more of a police presence in the town because it does not create the best image.”
Some of the early tweets from last year:
Earlier this year it was revealed that Walsall Council wants to introduce a Public Spaces Protection Order to clamp down on increasing problems in the town centre, mainly related to drink.
The PSPO would outlaw street drinking and groups congregating to drink, as well as a host of other offences such as the taking of drugs and aggressive beggars.
Police officers would be able to confiscate drink and drugs.
However, Mr Norton has said that he has seen no decrease in the level of drink and drugs being taken openly since the ban came into force.
He said: “It seems to have had no impact, certainly around the area right by my practice.
“People need to be reporting this more so it becomes a bigger issue, that is the only way we are going to see change.”
