A man who moved to an 'awful' Nottingham town centre said his car suffered £1,000 of damage while he lived in the area. Bar supervisor Max Greeley also said moving to Barnby Gate in Newark in June last year led to his insurance 'skyrocketing' - he has now moved away from the area.
The 21 year old explained his car first got hit "in the middle of the night" in January, describing the incident as a "complete hit and run." He said: "I woke up went down and it was a complete mess."
He fixed most of the damage himself but then four weeks later found deep scratches on the bumper. Max explained there were also parking issues on the road which could have caused the damage.
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He said: "There was also always problems with the permitted parking. There are always cars parked without permits which leads to a severe lack of parking and an extremely busy street, but they were never ticketed."
Max had reported this issue and was told there would be extra patrols in the area, but the problems continued. Speaking about the impact of living there, the 21 year old explained: "It never really felt like a home, I was always scared of leaving my car.
"My insurance rocketed when I moved there, so it's clearly a known issue with insurance companies. I was always scared leaving my car at night that I'd come down and it would be damaged more.
"It cost me nearly £600 to repair it the first time round as I had to have a brand new bumper, headlight and driver's side wing, then have them sprayed. I'm yet to have the bumper resprayed again after the second lot of scratches but I estimate that'll cost about another £100."
In addition to problems relating to vehicle damage, Max explained that there was also a lot of anti-social behaviour issues on the street. Another resident on the street, Rob O'Neil, 48, said: "We've lived here a year and have had no trouble in coming home from work and parking outside.
"Although I think it might just be this bit as it is a bit busier further down." Letting agent, Michelle Savage, 48, also lives on the street.
When asked if she has had damage to her car, she said: "No as I have a company car and I keep it around the corner." She added: "I know there are some kids that come down and make noise and cause some damage to cars and I've heard about wing mirrors being broken.
"It just happens now and then. I've not been here that long so I don't really know." Another resident on the road who did not wish to be named said: "I've not had a problem with my car, but there's been a few times where people knock on the door and then run away, but nothing too serious."
Sergeant Rob Harrison, of Nottinghamshire Police, said: “We are working hard as a neighbourhood policing team to tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) in Newark town centre as we absolutely accept this is an issue. Reducing ASB remains one of our chosen neighbourhood policing priorities in Newark and Sherwood because we know the damage it can cause to communities, and that’s precisely why we do so much work to combat this.
"Our officers carry out targeted patrols of areas where these offences are reported on a daily basis, while we work closely with local businesses and CCTV to capture evidence to allow us to take action, where we can. Working with our partners in housing, social care, schools and other agencies, we visit repeat offenders, as well as schools to deliver education sessions, and hold meetings with community groups to try and divert young people away from committing ASB."
He continued: "There is so much work we’re doing to try and tackle ASB, which is unfortunately a social problem that is being seen by police forces across the country. We want to stress just how seriously we take all reports of this nature but would add that the public also has a role to play in helping us.
"They can do this by continuing to report any incidents of ASB to us on 101, so that we can respond, while I would also appeal to parents of teenagers in the area to take responsibility in knowing where their child is and what they are doing.”
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