Shopper’s shock at junkies in loos

Aug 15 2008 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

PERTH’S desperate drug shame has spilled over into the city’s busy shopping centre toilets with users shooting up in front of shoppers and children.

In a shopping trip which turned sour, one reader told the PA of his shock at being confronted by three men preparing to inject drugs when he walked in to the gents’ toilets at the St John’s Centre.

Alarmingly, as he turned to leave, a young unsupervised boy – unaware of the unsavoury antics going on in full view in the toilets – entered the loos.

Upset by the event the man told the PA: “I couldn’t believe it. There were three guys, bold as brass, in the toilets preparing to inject drugs. One was even standing at the sinks with a needle in his mouth and two were in a cubicle taking drugs.

“They were off their faces, they didn’t even care I had seen them. As I came out there was a young boy, aged about 10, coming in to use the bathroom,” the 38-year-old Perth man said.

“It sent a shiver down my spine.”

He tried to alert the shopping centre’s security team but, busy dealing with a shop-lifting incident, there were no guards around.

Speaking to centre staff later, the man said he was told substance abuse had become such a problem in the St John’s Centre that drugs’ paraphernalia – including needles – have even been found littered around the shopping mall.

The disgusted shopper added: “Apparently the closure of public toilets is driving them into the mall, but as a shopper I would now be very reluctant to use the toilets in the St John’s Centre.”

The PA has also been contacted by other readers with similar terrifying tales of drug taking in the city’s shopping centre.

In response to the shoppers’ concerns the St John’s Centre issued a statement.

It said: “St John’s Shopping Centre management are aware of a recent unexplained increase in drugs related incidents in Perth city centre and in St John’s Shopping Centre.”

The statement continued: “As a member of PACE, a city-wide initiative to ensure Perth is a safe place to live work and socialise, we take our role seriously in the prevention of all crime and deal with any criminal activities safely and swiftly. This includes the use and/or possession of illegal narcotics on our premises.

“We have a number of measures in place to prevent drug-related crime, including blue spectrum lighting in the toilet cubicles and frequent security patrols of the shopping centre.

“Known offenders are quickly identified by CCTV which is monitored 24 hours per day, and observed for any anti-social behaviour.

“Offenders are escorted off the property and, where appropriate, we work with Tayside Police to secure an arrest.”

The St John’s Centre statement added: “We do ask that members of the public be extra vigilant and immediately report any incidents they have witnessed to a member of our security team.”