Drunks spoil air festival

Published: 9:39 AM July 31, 2009

Updated: 9:39 PM October 10, 2020

STAYING at a hotel with a sea view to enjoy the Lowestoft air show I was saddened to witness so many people drinking heavily and wandering around intoxicated, even in the early afternoon.

It is this kind of behaviour that ruined what was otherwise a very enjoyable day. Earlier, it was hard for me as a pensioner to move through groups of drunken teenagers as I walked down London Road South.

Later at night a fight broke out on the sea wall along the promenade. Two groups were involved in the altercation and it took 10 police officers more than an hour to calm the situation and send them on their way. The police, for their part, handled the situation with great constraint and professionalism even when one officer was pushed they did not respond with excessive force.

It was sad to see four elderly people walking through this pandemonium, huddled together and visibly frightened. It seems ironic that in our society we sell cheap alcohol then at night, when people run riot, we expend huge police resources to deal with the inevitable yobbish behaviour and fighting.

Surely, it is time that some restrictions are put in place so that we can enjoy our evening walk or view of the beach. A curfew would be a good idea. Also a ban on drinking in public places and a restriction on the numbers of people allowed to hang around in large gangs might be a solution.

I am sure these ideas are not new, but it is time that something is done about this kind of behaviour.