ok, I know there's been a thread on this recently but am still angry and frightened, a beggar seriously scared me today

[minxofmancunia]

Walked past a homeless man with his dog on Oxford Rd near MRI in Manchester, some of the street beggars there are serioualy aggressive, not opinion, a fact, and one which all the homeless teams agree with. Have always had dh with me before so felt safe(ish) when apprached by them intimidating for money (I also know a lot of them carry knives so they can mug opportunistically, this is from the horses mouth so to speak).

Said "no sorry" when he asked me for cash, turned into the tunnel thing to go to underground carpark felt someome behnd me, he'd followed me in and was approaching me no one else about, i screamed at him "what do you think you're doing" manged to get carpark ticket into wall machine to get into carpark stairwell and the doors shut just in time so he was locked out. When he saw I'd got away he turned and went back to his spot on the street. If he'd got through the door he would have had me trapped in between 2 sets of doors on some stairs.

I'm pregnant and was carrying 2 bags one full of textbooks and academic papers so not quick on my feet.

Was hyperventilating by the time I got to the car, the security guard did sweet f**k all.

AIBU to beleieve that this sort of behaviour is horrible and needs to be stamped out? I.e. begging on the street like this and that I'm sick to death of the Police not sorting it out (there's loead patrolling in this area all the time) and to be sick to death of the aggressive, intimidatory behaviour of homeless people in this city (was robbed by homeless person when pg first time round).

Call me callous, un empathic, whatever but I really think something needs to be done. It was all I could do when home to stop dh driving up there and punching him

Have you reported it to the police?

oh no poor you this sounds awful. Am a manchester lass too, and frequented Oxford rd area for 6 or so yrs through a levels and uni- am v shocked for you. Are you ok? I feel incredibly lucky to not have experiences anything like this in mcr. However I am now living in s mcr/ cheshire and very soft and hardly ever go to "town"- maybe it has got rapidly worse? Are you going to ring the police?

Don't know your area at all, but round here the MPs tend to be quite good, well the labour one is anyway. Have you tried contacting them? or better still the local paper? You could also try contacting the shopping centre that the car park is attached to (if indeed it is) and mention this to them, specifying that you are prepared to go to the press if it isn't dealt with.

You absolutely must report him to the police and make a strong complaint. This isn't begging. Write to the newspaper if nothing is done. I find this so scary. If you do this journey a lot you should carry a rape alarm or similar.

Yes I was the OP on the last thread, I will be interested to see the responses on this thread.

YANBU. Mostly what I hate is when they talk to my autistic son and he goes into one of his blank modes to shut them out because they are scaring him.

Poor old you, never feel so vulnerable as when pregnant or with small children.

no Mary cos was just desperate to get home and dd was in the bath and pleased to see me and I read hera few stories to which made me calm again.

Looked round for them when I drove out of the carpark as there's usually at least 1 about either in a car/horse/bike round there but no one.

Should have done though, I go up there a lot so expect I'll see him again and will have to walk past him.

TBH we've reported aggressive begging incidents a nimber of times and we always see the same people in the same spots so nothing ever seems to get done.

I love manchester but it's one of the worst things about living here and you do have to be on your guard all the time

I feel so sorry for you I would have been panicking and don't think i would have been as quick thinking and as brave as you.

I don't have any ideas or solutions but i is a terrible situation. Could you write into your local newspaper to highlight this problem?

Thank you for all your helpful suggestions, the car park is an NHS trust carpark attached to the trust that i work for!!!

I will be talking to trust HQ tomorrow,it's the carpark the community midwives use primarily, you'd think they'd make it safer. I won't be using it again.

Our local MP is quite helpful, always in the local rag and I know the editor of the South Manchester Reporter so will email him

saucepanman I've been in Manc on and off for 15 years since Uni, Oxford Road has got progressively worse over the last few years and I've noticed at night unless there's a gig on is fairly deserted, it's a shame even the students are frightned to go out there as it used to be buzzing.

I was just thinking around this and wondering what the solution is. Googled agressive begging manchester and found lots of stuff including this - slightly old but clearly an ongoing problem and lots of organisations / charities aware of it. I don't know what the solution is, and clearly not going to be solved overnight. Or even in the five years since this incident.

So, I'd definitely be tempted to talk to your local MP. If it's down to support for housing, employment, addiction etc this is often down to charities and they need support.

I know that area of Manchester. Had't realised it had become such a problem. Have been away a long time...

Whilst I do empathise with many homeless people, there is NO excuse for intimidation, it's out of order, and the police should be doing more to stop it.

I remember minding my own business eating my lunch in the cathedral green in Exeter once when I worked there, and this homeless man/tramp kept hovering, swigging a bottle of wine and I felt really intimidated. He then approached me, and I tried to ignore him and not make eye contact and he shouted "Molly, Molly"! And I was like wtf to myself. He stood there for a few minutes, during this time my heart was pounding and I thought he was going to attack me. He clearly had mental issues.

Why should people minding their own business put up with this sort of nonsense? It's very scary, especially to women and the police should patrol more. You hardly ever see them though. OP how scary for you. YANBU at all.

Mary, I know that area too - things have certainly changed since I trained at the MRI. Minx - do you carry anything like a personal attack alarm?

It is very sad that some people end up on the streets and in such dire circumstances as this man, but you should be able to walk safely to your car without something like this happening.