Croydon trader claims council ignored complaints about violent crime in town centre
By Claudia Lee
A trader has claimed his local council has ignored his complaints about crime in the town centre.
Jose Joseph runs Joseph’s Veg in Surrey Street, Croydon. He stood in the local council elections of 2022 for the Labour party but was unsuccessful and ran under the campaign “Safe Croydon” – which concerns residents in the Fairfield ward.
Mr Joseph said: “Our local councillors have failed to do their responsibility. We need to keep Croydon safe and bring peace for the businesses in Croydon.”
Mr Joseph organised a petition against violence in the area in 2022 following complaints from business owners who had been subject to burglary and violence.
The petition was signed by 70 businesses by November 2022 and sent to the Mayor of Croydon, Fairfield ward councillors and the local MP, but Mr Joseph said he is yet to receive a response.
Met statistics show Fairfield was the most dangerous area within Croydon in 2022.
The most recent Met statistics show 503 crimes were reported in Fairfield in December 2022, compared to 102 crimes in South Croydon.
Of these 503 crimes, 113 were categorised as violence and sexual offences, 101 as antisocial behaviour, 54 as other theft and the other 235 all other crime.
A council spokesman said: “We’re aware that some town centre neighbourhoods are impacted by crime and antisocial behaviour, and we target our resources to support the police in tackling it.”
Police forces in Croydon Town Centre and the Fairfield ward began a three-week operation yesterday to clamp down on a recent increase in robberies and violence.
James Weston, Met inspector for the Croydon Town Centre Team and Fairfield ward, said: “We need to take immediate action and this operation is how we can quickly change things.
“We understand that there is feedback from our community and some business owners don’t always feel safe in the town centre, and that’s why we’re doing this operation, to offer reassurance as well as detecting and preventing crime.”
Pictured top: Surrey Street trader Jose Joseph (Picture: Tara O’Connor)
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