Clitheroe business tired of soft porn and drug taking in doorway

Clitheroe Security Systems owners Hollie and Clive Barnes say “soft porn” and “drug taking” are a weekly occurrence in their shop doorway.

They will now post CCTV images of the perpetrators to social media and send the videos to police if it keeps happening.

Hollie and Clive Barnes

The criminal crackdown at the Wellgate shop was triggered last weekend (August 7) when a teenager smashed their shop front window in the early hours of the morning.

Nothing was stolen but they caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

Hollie said: “We received a notification early in the morning letting us know that there was a group of people outside the shop.

“We then received another notification telling us the window had been broken through.

“Due to the quality of the cameras we know who it is and I have been in touch with his parents and it has all been rectified.

“He’s since been very apologetic which we appreciate more than anything.”

The window will now cost around £2,000 to replace and Hollie says it also reflects badly on the business.

Clitheroe Security Systems smashed shop window

She said: “Clive was panick-striken when it happened as it leaves the whole building open.

“The window is so big that we will have to keep a board up there for a while until it can be replaced.

“It just reflects badly on the business – especially one which sells CCTV and security systems.”

Talking about the incident, a police spokesperson said: “We were called at 2.47am on August 7 after a window was smashed.

"A teenager was removed from the scene and CCTV is being studied.”

Now, Hollie and Clive have installed another camera outside and want to remind the public just how good their CCTV is.

Hollie says drug taking and sexual activity is a weekly occurrence in their doorway; they have installed another high quality camera outside and will be putting a fence outside the front door in the future.

They will also be publically shaming the individuals on their Facebook page in the future and also reporting any illegal activities to the police.

They have already posted a CCTV snap of two individual to their social media – but have concealed their faces this time.

They wrote: “This time we have covered the faces of offenders but be warned we won't in future.

“Please feel free to like and share our page so you can keep up to date with all the late night events in our showroom doorway.”

Hollie said: “We’re baffled as we get a lot of people drug taking in the doorway and the cameras are so good that we can hear them talking and taking the drugs.

“Every week we are met with sick, urine and more in the doorway which we have to then clean up – it’s revolting.

“We want to remind people that when they do go into the doorway it is being recorded and any illegal activity is now going to be reported to the police and posted on social media.

“You wouldn’t do it outside your doorway so don’t do it outside ours.”