Published: Friday, 25th April, 2008 16:30
Grafitti war a battle of wits
By Elaine Bowers
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CLEAN LIVING: John Reid and William Cochrane, rear, remove graffiti from an underpass in Greenock.
Pic by: George Munro
VANDALS are spoiling the look of Inverclyde with unwanted messages and scribbles on shop walls, underpasses, shops and postboxes. Today, as we continue the Tele’s campaign to tidy our environment, ELAINE BOWERS meets the team tasked with cleaning up the unsightly mess.
IT IS hard to believe, but a true story. As William Cochrane and John Reid scrubbed graffiti off the walls of an underpass, a teenage girl sauntered up and began painting her name on the concrete.
John shakes his head, as he recalls the incident at Greenock’s Bullring roundabout.
He said: “We were still on the other side when the girl took out a marker and started to write on the wall. I said we were in the middle of cleaning up and she was very embarrassed and walked away.
“We are not in a position to pull them up, we just said we would report it.”
The inconsiderate actions of the teenager — and others like her — are nothing new to John, or William, who make up Inverclyde’s graffiti removal squad.
On another occasion, the men spent all day working at a different underpass and were pleased with their efforts. After several hours of elbow grease they had deleted dozens of names and messages from the walls and the tiles were sparkling once again. However, as they returned to their van they were stunned to discover someone had been spraying the start of the passageway while as they finished work at the other end, ruining their good work.
Despite the frustrations that accompany their daily challenges, William and John feel a sense of satisfaction once they have cleaned an area blighted by vandalism.
Ian Foreman, street scene supervisor, said: “The graffiti removal squad also removes chewing gum. If graffiti is racist, obscene or sectarian, we will respond within 24 hours. If it is tags and people’s names, we will work it into a programme of work.”
Tackling graffiti has become a priority over the last two years since the removal squad was put in place and members of the public regularly call the council to report vandalism.
Ian said: “Two years ago, there was no way of dealing with graffiti, but now we have a budget, we can address the situation. The general public are aware there is a scheme in progress to remove it and the more people who know, the more we get notified.”
Underpasses are a favourite location for vandalism and the Bullring roundabout is a frequent target.
However, it would appear some vandals are getting the message that they are wasting their time.
Ian said: “The shops at Sinclair Street were bad at one time. Now we have addressed it a few times it is slowing down. I like to think the guys doing the vandalism are getting the message that we will come along the next day and take it off. It is a war of wits and, hopefully, we are winning.
“We work pretty closely with the community police, more so from Gourock, and they have had a few prosecutions.
“I think Inverclyde is not too bad compared to other local authorities the same size. We have our problem areas but it is not as bad as people make out.”
Various methods of removal can be used, depending on the type of graffiti and the surface it is painted on. Power jet washes work in some cases, while environmentally-friendly chemicals have to be employed on other occasions.
Graffiti is often removed from street furniture including cable boxes, postboxes and lampposts.
While Ian is confident his team is encouraging vandals to rethink their actions and give more consideration to the environment in which they live, he acknowledges there are others who simply don’t care.
He said: “The team were at an underpass one day, cleaning both sides and the roof. By the time they got back to the start, there was vandalism at the start again.
“I think it is a sad indictment of the times that people can access spray paint and see fit to damage paintwork and walls and in today’s society people think it is acceptable. It is about people’s respect for other people’s property and their own community.
“It is a shame, because there are good kids who would never do this. It is a minority who spoil it.”
All graffiti and vandalism has to be removed, including ‘rest in peace’ messages that sometimes appear at locations where young people have been killed.
Ian said: “The kids are not meaning any harm but these guys were asked to clear it up to ease the pain of the families.
“We are trying to make the environment nice for people to stay in.”
IF you live in Port Glasgow, there is a very good chance Tommy Wilson has passed by your house today.
As one of Inverclyde’s 45 street sweepers, he is tasked with brushing up the litter and debris from our roads and pavements.
Come rain or shine, even in snow, Tommy will be out chatting to people and brushing up litter, lifting dead squirrels and — the worst task of all — picking up dog poo.
Tommy, who has been in the job for eight years, described his work as ‘very satisfying’, but revealed his particular bugbear is owners who do not clean up after their pets.
He said: “We do not get many problems, but the worst is dog dirt. It is disgusting.
“Sometimes you wouldn’t think it was a dog, you would think it was a cow. If a kid gets it on their feet they get it in their school. One lady phoned us because her daughter had fallen and was covered in dog dirt. It was a shame. Dog fouling is my pet hate.”
Apart from animal dirt, Tommy enjoys his work and always feels a job has been well done at the end of the day. He said: “When you go into a bad street and come out and turn round and see how clean it is, it is very satisfying.”
While street sweepers cover all areas in Inverclyde, Tommy’s patch for the last four years has included avenues such as Oronsay, Brightside, Northfield, Southfield, Slaemuir, Bardrainney and Robert Street.
Tommy said: “You get to know the local characters.”
Dead squirrels, cats and even dogs and deer all have to be collected from the roadside.
Tommy, 49, said: “One of the boys was sent out to pick up a dog after we got a call that it had been lying dead in the street for hours.
“He got to the dog in Parkhill Avenue and it jumped up and bit him. It had just been lying there.
“We pick up dead cats, dogs, squirrels and deer and that is all part of the job. It can be unpleasant if it is someone’s cat and you know an old lady will be out looking for it. It is sad, but the likes of squirrels we are used to.”
Tommy often hears people grumble that no street sweepers have been in their streets, but with the workers starting at 7am there is a very good chance they have been down your way before you have even had breakfast.
Tommy said: “It doesn’t matter — hail, rain or snow. I was out yesterday and it was beautiful. Today it is not so nice and Monday was awful. If it is heavy snow, we clear up round the pensioners’ home at Monkton Place and the shops at Dubbs Road so they can get out.
“The hardest part of the year is when the leaves come off the trees, but in terms of litter it is summer. You get people having bottles of beer and barbecues in their garden and the litter blows on to the road.”
Tommy, who used to work in the shipyards as an electrician’s mate, said most people appreciate the work he and his colleagues do — especially the bride who had snow swept from her front door so her wedding dress did not get wet.
He said: “We get old women walking up to us and giving us sweets.
“I have one woman who gives me four wee sweeties whenever I am in her area.
“Ninety five per cent of people appreciate what we do and say we do a good job.
“I find it a very satisfying job.”
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