Kids in Blackpool are all involved with drugs and gangs, It’s nearly impossible to not get involved

They described a culture of fear, intimidation and gang warfare on the streets of Blackpool where carrying a knife is “normal”.

One 14-year-old girl explained how bullying had driven her to join a gang for protection. Her experiences include being chased with a machete and shot in the head with a metal pellet from a BB gun.

The harrowing first-hand accounts from teenagers were heard at a meeting of the Poverty Truth Network at Holy Trinity church in South Shore on Wednesday.

Blackpool’s Poverty Truth Network, is a team of local people who come together to share their experiences of life in the town. Once this information has been gathered, co-ordinators meet with key decision makers to effect change.

“We don't have any agenda about what comes up – residents raise things that worry them and we pursue the issues together,” said project co-ordinator Gillian Oliver, explaining how the event came about.

“More mums are telling us they feel like the only ones protecting their child. No doubt there are some super teachers, but mums tell us it can be hard to get the school involved when their child is being bullied. Then, due to the ages of the bullies, the police may not help either.”

Young people shared their first-hand experiences with the adults attending. One 16-year-old girl described being left with crippling anxiety and depression as a result of being terrorised by another girl she fell out with and adults in the girl’s family.

“Me and my sister ended up almost getting run over by two adults on the way home from school,” she said. “The girl bricked my windows. Her parents followed me home from school commenting on me sexually – on the length of my school skirt and how I dress. Her and her family still stalk me years later.”

The girl said she did report the incidents to the police but no action was taken. 

“People don’t take it seriously. Nobody seems to really understand. It’s draining,” she said.

A 14-year-old girl shared her experience of persistent bullying that had driven her to join a gang for protection. 

“I was badly bullied from around age 10,” she said. “Every day I’d get chased. Once I was playing at Claremont Park and I got chased by a group of lads and they cornered me on this estate. After that I didn’t go out for six weeks.

“When I started secondary school there was a group of lads who would send me voice notes telling me to kill myself and to cut deeper,” she said. 

“The bullying has stopped now but only because I’ve changed my behaviour. I started chillin’ with the wrong people because that gave me protection against them. I don’t even recognise myself now, I’m a horrible person. I’ve changed a lot. I’m more defensive, I have bad moods. The things that I liked I don't really do anymore. I go out and get in a lot of trouble.” 

The girls both said that drug dealing and carrying knives is “normal” in Blackpool, with children as young as 12 carrying machetes, ninja swords and katana Samurai swords, all of which are readily available to buy online and in joke shops in Blackpool. 

"In Blackpool they all carry [knives],” the 16-year-old girl said. “Kids are all involved with drugs and gangs. It’s nearly impossible to not get involved. Gangs make you feel like you have some sort of power. If you want to start on me, I can get other people involved. That’s the way it is. That’s Blackpool.” 

Chris Web, Labour’s MP candidate for the Blackpool South, praised the eight young people who shared their stories with adults at the event. 

He told them: “What you’ve been through is severe and the fact that you’re brave enough to share your stories is remarkable. You should really be proud of yourselves. It’s tough to talk about and it’s tough to hear.” 

The young people explained how they felt let down by the adults including teachers and the police. Chris Webb, who is standing as Labour candidate for Blackpool South in the general election on Thursday, made a public commitment to the young people and others in attendance. 

If re-elected as MP he said he will hold a round-table discussion with schools to share best practice and invite the young people to share their experiences with school leaders. He added that he will review Blackpool Council’s anti-bullying charter, which schools adopted in February 2020 before it was overshadowed by the pandemic. 

And he said he would renew the work he started in 2020 as Deputy Police and Crime Commissioner when he launched Lancashire Youth Commission on Crime Reduction and Prevention. Webb brought together 25 young people aged 14 to 25 to give them the chance to support, challenge and inform the work of Police and Crime Commissioner and said he will look to emulate the model in Blackpool South as MP. 

“Tackling knife crime has been a key commitment of mine in both the Blackpool South by-election and general election campaign,” said Webb. He used one of his first questions in the House of Commons to ask the government what it was doing to tackle these dangerous weapons on the streets after the Home Office revealed that weapons offences have increased 416% since 2015 in Blackpool – the fourth steepest increase in the county. 

“I knew knife crime was bad but I am shocked at the extent of the situation after listening to the brave young people who shared their stories with me today. They confirmed some links between the county lines drugs trade that preys on young vulnerable people and the gang violence that we are witnessing in Blackpool. 

“But they also helped illustrate the connection between bullying, poverty and children getting involved in serious crime. 

“The young people told me how kids are getting stabbed over a debt of £10 and how without the latest pair of Jordan’s you are ‘nothing’ and will get picked on. These trainers are upwards of £100. I told the kids how I was picked on in high school for not being able to afford Rockports, which were the thing then, but it didn’t escalate beyond that. 

“It’s so much more extreme now – kids whose parents can barely afford to feed them are coveting clothes they see on social media like Moncler jackets which cost thousands of pounds. 

“This is a poverty issue and a cost-of-living issue as much as it is a problem with crime, and we need to tackle all these things holistically. Communities in Blackpool have been overlooked and left behind and so it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that we have got here. But that doesn’t make it any easier to hear.” 

Plans under Labour to tackle poverty include introducing a genuine living wage and free breakfast clubs for children. Specifically on crime, Webb has promised to bring hundreds more community police officers and PCSOs to Blackpool and said every neighbourhood will be allocated a dedicated officer who will be embedded in the community. 

Labour has also outlined a knife crime action plan in its manifesto that aims to halve the problem in a decade. “Tough consequences” will be introduced for carrying a knife with young people caught in possession to be referred to a Youth Offending Team and receive “a mandatory plan to prevent reoffending, with penalties including curfews, tagging, and custody for the most serious cases”.

The party has also vowed to “ban ninja swords, lethal zombie-style blades and machetes, and strengthen rules to prevent online sales”. And by creating a Young Futures programme with a network of hubs in communities, Labour hopes to help prevent young people being drawn into crime in the first place. 

“The hubs will have youth workers, mental health support workers, and careers advisers on hand to support young people’s mental health and avoid them being drawn into crime,” the Labour manifesto states. 

Gillian Oliver said: “Our young residents felt supported by the group who listened to them. They spoke of feeling that the leaders of the town were interested and wanted to help them, and they drew courage and comfort from each other. This has been a healing and hopeful experience for our troubled teens, and they now want to work with leaders to change things for their town.”

A series of podcasts from the Poverty Truth Network’s Stop Bullying project is available to listen to here.