ASB - a short story by PCSO Nathan Stuart

As part of ASB Awareness Week 2023, PCSO Nathan Stuart has written this short story, based on his own experiences of dealing with anti-social behaviour in Scarborough.

Find out more about ASB Awareness Week 2023

Imagine you are completely at your wits' end - the neighbours are making noise at all hours, there’s a constant party, people coming and going, that door keeps banging and all you want is that smallest chance of some kip before work in the morning.

You have had enough. Every room in the flat vibrates with that repetitive music, over and over and over.

You just want out… but you can’t. You have missed some payments 'cause COVID had an impact on you, the social landlord says you have to catch up before you can move on, and your boss is asking why you are tired all the time.

And yet, the party goes on and you want that sleep.

Why isn’t the landlord doing anything? You have complained but they told you to ring the police. And you know that the party house will know it's you who called the police, and you know the neighbours hate it as much as you… but you just want sleep.

Morning has finally arrived. Did you get the six hours of sleep you hoped for? You wander down the street to go to work, just wanting your bed. Step over the vomit from the party-goers, dodge the broken bottles and make it into work. Your boss looks at you and thinks “not again!”

Midway through your day, the police arrive and ask to look at the CCTV at your place of work. Brilliant, eh? Now you have to do another job! But hey, you just mention to the officers about what’s happening round yours. Remember, you had enough at 3.47am. You explain to the officers about the 'bang bang bang', and they tell you: "We can refer you to the Community Impact Team if you want?"

So, what’s next? You don’t want the police at your door. In fact, you don’t want to be seen talking to the police at all. Then you get a call from a nice person from the council. She explains to you the process of what happens next. You are told that you’re not the only person suffering – yeah, so why has nothing been done yet?

You’re told that your social landlord is working with the environmental health team at the council and speaking to the police about it. The Community Safety Officer for your area wants to chat to you – still, you don’t want this at home. You suggest a coffee shop, and you’re shocked when they say yes.

Within a few days, you have spoken to a few people from this community team, and when you get home from work there’s a diary sheet on your doormat. You don’t want to put your name on that! But OK, you will fill it in.

You tell them how it’s affecting you, the sleep issues, the smell of cannabis, the bottles left all over, the vomit, the blood, the rubbish and just that awful smell and grime. You tell them you want to move, it comes flowing out, and you just want to scribble all over the sheet.

Someone picks up your diary at the door, you recognise it to be the guy who signed you up to your flat. You’re annoyed with him, why didn’t he tell you about this place? Why hasn’t he done something yet?

A few days pass, you wake up and you can hear a machine noise. Great, what next? You look out of your window and see a street sweeper round your neighbours. The police are there, so is the landlord. Your neighbour is arguing with the landlord: "They don’t have parties, just some mates over."

That night, you get a restful sleep, there’s no music, no noise. You bump into a friend in the morning who tells you that your neighbour has been evicted. Apparently, there was enough evidence from the diary sheet thanks to some new people complaining...