Is this gang thing happening in your Town Centre?

[GangsinTown]

I’m really concerned. There are gangs of young people dressed in black with hoods and caps that are frequently in our Town Centre going into McDonalds and KFC late at night trashing the place for no reason. I’m talking throwing tables and chairs, smashing windows creating as much carnage as possible.

My son works at McD’s and this has happened twice in the last month. His friend who works on the other side of town in KFC has also experienced this. It’s just happened again tonight and my son’s manager was punched in the face whilst pushing a thug out to lock the door to protect people inside. Customers are terrified asking to hide behind the counter.

He said it happens everywhere because these are young teens (under 16) who think they’re untouchable from the law because of their age, they record it on their phones then post it all over social media - mainly Tik Tok for kudos.

I’m now terrified for my son going to work. We live in a small town, it’s not a large or capital city where maybe you’d expect higher crimes rates.

Yes, happens exactly the same in Chorley, North West. They've got bouncers, all sorts, but it's very intimidating. They love filming it too. I've never seen it as bad, and yes it's McDs and KFC only. Feel really bad for the staff, mostly older women who are being aggravated and intimidated on a daily basis.

To give the police their due it’s hard to police gangs when they’re all on phones. Police seen at one venue? They’ll all head for another.
Some phone signal cancelling device would be good but is probably illegal.

I left teaching a few years ago as positive/restorative discipline policies were so badly misinterpreted and implemented by SLT to mean that there is simply no consequence for bad behaviour and therefore low-level disruption was becoming entrenched and a toxic norm. But at least there were always some kids who would act up for their audience in the classroom and you could get through to them on their own and develop good relationships and work with them on perspective, self awareness, self control etc. Now all of them have an audience on tiktok 24/7 and the rewards of antisocial behaviour far outweigh the (nonexistent) consequences.

So do I, his shift finished at 11 and he said he was getting a lift home with a colleague. It’s only 10 minute drive and he’s not answering his phone. He’s only 17 🥲 I’m worried sick

Did he get home ok, OP?

I worry about this. Massive gangs near us and they vandalise, set fire to bins, smoke weed and shout at passers by. The local police are not a visible presence here, never answer phone etc.
I hope your son can get a different job, as this sounds horrible.
I hate to moan about teenagers, but I have come to a similar conclusion as PP- phones make it worse.

This isn't happening in my town (I have two teens who work in McD's) although there is sometimes minor trouble by idiot teens messing about in the summer holidays.

What has your DS been told to do if there is an incident like this? Surely there is a protocol that the managers will step in and your DS will be kept safe?

There are so many threads on MN about working at Mc Donald's being boring and just flipping burgers. It's very, very far from that! Dealing with dick heads is a huge part of the job.

I would ask your DS to change his availability so he's not working late evenings.

Not happening in my town.
Bloody scum, they need to change the age for arrest-able offences. If you can do round destroying things and attacking people - you're old enough to have your day in court and face the punishment.

Happening for decade in Enfield and Tottenham. The McDonald’s on the A10 was like a headquarters as far as I could tell, they would just camp there revving their cars in the 90’s.

Now I suppose gang members spend all their money on black hoodies instead of Vauxhall novas?

I am in a European big city and saw exactly this yesterday when we were shopping. I don’t think it’s confined to the U.K. which might mean it is fuelled by TikTok or SM.

It was very scary as the ‘kids’ in this case were strapping men almost (17/18 at a guess) and lots of them, not weedy 12 year olds. By the time the police arrived they were long gone, my own teens were really scared. All wearing black hoodies with black face coverings, hoods up. There would be very little to be identify them with.

Well we do have the youth courts, they should be charged.

That's terrible OP. I hope your DS got home safely last night. What a frightening situation though for him to be facing at work every time he's on a late shift. I fucking hate TikTok for all the stupid things it encourages young people to do that upset, inconvenience, frighten and damage others and their businesses.

Happening in most towns these days. These kids fear nothing. Peer pressure, lax parenting, social media, smart phones, lax attitude towards drugs, no fear of authority.
I fear for my grandchildren growing up with this

Yes sadly it is , dropping a fag butt constitutes a more serious offence nowadays or parking and entering the wrong digit .

There’s also been similar happening in Wrexham. There have been dispersal orders in place

Any sensible person doesn’t visit the town centre later on in the evening. There’s so much trouble in maccies.

a few weeks back a gang if kids aged from about 10 or 11 to 16 rampaged through the town (yes I know it’s a city but it’s alway a town to the residents) causing loads of trouble and having a go at people and kids who they came across.

a lot of young people are great but there seems to be an increasing minority who aren’t. Their parents don’t give a shit and you can tell that from the Facebook comments. ‘Oh kids will be kids’ ‘not my kid’ ‘there’s nothing for them to do’

Why can't the police do anything? What about juvenile detention?

It's not like they're going to turn 18 and become stand up members of the community.

What you mean this is now the society we live in? Gangs have been around for hundreds of years, and teenagers/young people, particularly lads, commit a high proportion of crime.

My local McDonalds has security guards

@GangsinTown did your son get home ok?

I've not seen or heard of this, but I don't really go out at night and not really on social media so I guess I wouldn't see it, but I can certainly believe it.

Society seems on the brink of collapse, I don't know what the answer is, so many factors are at play. Where do you even start trying to tackle it all?

Completely agree. They won’t allow schools to expel because those kids then have zero supervision during the day and are even more likely to fall into crime.

I haven't heard of this particular thing, but our town centre has been progressively getting worse.

Suspect it’s because they’ve been told to downgrade the ‘petty’ crimes. We know that burglary for example no longer has a prison tariff. Equally shoplifting is pretty much a civil matter. The police don’t have the capacity to deal with it.

i think that’s another reason I’m so irritated when the police have all the time in the world to harass people over Twitter comments but no time at all for actual physical crimes.

Tell your son to know the location of the fire extinguishers. If he feels at risk of attack turn a fire extinguisher on nearest attackers. Absolute scumbags, what do their parents think they’re doing that time if night?

But only in very restricted areas ( often connected to ports where it was difficult to keep track of people).

Im old , and really there was nothing like this when I was young in the middle of the last century, the main problem in most towns at night was the complete lack of activity. Even twenty years ago, town and city centres in most places where quite quiet and safe at night. Even Friday and Saturday nights when the pubs closed were only drunks fighting each other, not this organised gang violence and destruction.

Haven’t had this particular issue near me (London suburb) but both the local McDonalds are problematic. One branch constantly had fights between kids from rival schools last year, police frequently outside sorting out some issue. The other has been a hotspot for grooming / child sexual exploitation gangs and has employed extra security.

I banned my teens from going there after school, and if they want McDs we go to a drive thru in the next area.

The social media dares thing is a worry. Sounds terrifying for the staff!

all I have noticed where I live is kids vaping. Where do they get the vaps from? Dont you have to be 18 to buy vaps?