Banned from library at tender age of 12 (From Swindon Advertiser)
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Banned from library at tender age of 12
9:00am Monday 5th December 2011 in News By Scott McPherson
ALMOST 50 unruly children have been banned from libraries and leisure centres in the town in the past three years.
The figures released by Swindon Council show that between 2008-2010, 29 youngsters, some as young as 12, have been banned from the town’s libraries and 18 from its leisure centres.
The bans, some of which are indefinite, have been slapped on the yobs for being abusive to staff, criminal behaviour, fighting, swearing and dangerous behaviour.
One incident, which happened in a North Swindon library last year, was so bad that the police were called and the three culprits, aged between 14 and 16, were given life-long bans.
But, the true picture could actually be much worse as some libraries work with Wiltshire Police to contribute evidence to enable anti-social behaviour orders, which includes being banned from the library, but these are not recorded by the council.
A Swindon Council spokesman said: “We do not hand out bans lightly and they are usually imposed following repeated anti-social behaviour by a very small minority of library users.
“Anyone who is found to be behaving in an inappropriate manner receives an initial warning letter and, if the person is under 16, this letter is sent to their parents.
“If the behaviour persists, a formal letter banning the individual is sent out. In some cases, if the individual is under the age of 16, the ban is imposed with the full agreement and co-operation of the parents.
“The length of the ban is determined by the individual library manager, but is sometimes agreed following police advice as many of the people who are handed bans are also involved in anti-social behaviour in the local area.”
The statistics were supplied under a Freedom of Information request that the Adver made to Swindon Council.
The request revealed that 18 children aged between 12 and 17 have been banned from council-run leisure centres in the town and that the Link Centre in west Swindon has the highest number of bans out of all of the leisure centres in Swindon.
The hotspots for anti-social behaviour in libraries are those based in North Swindon – which include Moredon library, Even Swindon library, Penhill library, and North Swindon library.
Between 2008-2010, 18 youths aged between 12 and 16, have been banned from these libraries.
Following these, the new Central Library has had to ban nine members of the public, aged between 15 and 50.
In the same period, Liden library has banned two teens for six months for repeated bad language and disruption.
Comments(15)
jerry59
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10:16am Mon 5 Dec 11
Robfm
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10:18am Mon 5 Dec 11
stu2010
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10:55am Mon 5 Dec 11
flatbattery
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11:07am Mon 5 Dec 11
Swindoo
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3:28pm Mon 5 Dec 11
KM1981
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4:34pm Mon 5 Dec 11
We used to have kids of 6 years old waiting outside the library before it opened to come in because their parents had kicked them out onto the streets and forbidden them to go back home until the evening! I walked one small child home one winter night as they were out alone and nobody cared where they were, which just broke my heart.
There was a notorious local teenager who was always hassling the staff, swearing and causing trouble but as I was only a few years older than I managed to talk to him and encourage better behaviour, and after a while he would come by to help out and even ran a stall at one of the fun days we held there. Thankfully the troublemaking bored teens are the minority and there are plenty of loving parents who think nothing of spending a little time with their children.
Roy Orbit in Chippenham
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4:46pm Mon 5 Dec 11
Scrumping
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12:54am Tue 6 Dec 11
Robfm wrote:And it is only free air, if you had your way it would be polluted wih your foul tobacco smoke!
It's a place to which the public are granted access, that access can be withdrawn. There is no absolute right to anything, except possibly to breath free air.
flatbattery
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6:41am Tue 6 Dec 11
who dat?
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12:31pm Tue 6 Dec 11
cmcelderry
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5:23pm Tue 6 Dec 11
dmw1984
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3:17pm Wed 7 Dec 11
flatbattery wrote:No offence intended here at all, but how do you know these kids' parents are feral all we know is what the kids have been upto. For all you know their parents could be hard working nurses or doctors.
yet more feral kids, from feral parents. if the parents were fined, then perhaps they would control their useless offspring. We dont want them in public places, unless in prison
I do agree however with heavy fines if the kids are misbehaving.
dmw1984
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3:18pm Wed 7 Dec 11
flatbattery wrote:No offence intended here at all, but how do you know these kids' parents are feral all we know is what the kids have been upto. For all you know their parents could be hard working nurses or doctors.
yet more feral kids, from feral parents. if the parents were fined, then perhaps they would control their useless offspring. We dont want them in public places, unless in prison
I do agree however with heavy fines if the kids are misbehaving.
flatbattery
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7:37am Fri 9 Dec 11
dmw1984 wrote:most hard working parents teach children to behave in a responsible way, sorry but did my letter touch a nerve.
flatbattery wrote:No offence intended here at all, but how do you know these kids' parents are feral all we know is what the kids have been upto. For all you know their parents could be hard working nurses or doctors.
yet more feral kids, from feral parents. if the parents were fined, then perhaps they would control their useless offspring. We dont want them in public places, unless in prison
I do agree however with heavy fines if the kids are misbehaving.
Robfm says...
10:02am Mon 5 Dec 11