What a blooming idiot!
The man in the hat clearly thinks it’s a bit a wheeze to rip up and destroy a town centre floral display that’s there for everyone to enjoy.
But he’s also clearly not aware that he’s being watched.
Not just by the passers-by who witness his blatant wrecking spree at first hand, but by a bank of CCTV cameras from one of the country’s most comprehensive and effective town centre security systems.
The drama unfolded just after 8:40pm on Tuesday June 16, as our trilby-wearing friend made his way along Market Street.
Michell Woodburn who heads up Wigan Council’s CCTV operation takes up the tale.
“The man was clearly acting in an unusual way and that brought him to the attention of our CCTV monitoring officers,” says Michell. “Moments later he starts having a go at the floral display in the planter and as you can see from the footage, he pulls the entire display from the planter and walks off with it.
“We got a really good look at him. He obviously stands out a bit because of the hat and it’s quite easy to make out what this person looks like.”
The CCTV team will be handing over the footage over to the police and if caught, the culprit could face legal action.
But the real message is behave yourself, because if you are up to no good you’ll be caught on camera and identified.
Wigan Council’s Cabinet Champion for Safer Neighbourhoods, Cllr Kevin Anderson says: “It’s really disappointing to see this kind of behaviour on our streets. The floral displays are intended for the enjoyment of everyone in the borough and they are there to present a positive image of our town centre and borough.
“So quite why anyone would want to rip them up is frankly beyond me.”
Cllr Anderson adds: “From the photographs it seems that this person seems pretty pleased with their actions but I bet they won’t be feeling so pleased now.
“They will undoubtedly know who they are from these images and we hope they feel suitably ashamed.”
“We’re serious about keeping our town centres safe and free from this kind of vandalism and at the very least we won’t hesitate in identifying other people who behave in this way in the future.”
- Anyone who knows who the vandal or has any information about the incident is urged call Wigan Neighbourhood Policing Team on 0161 856 7124 or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.
