Episode 5 Street Patrol UK

Our lives are by blighted by antisocial behaviour.

Whether it's nuisance neighbours,

graffiti on the streets or too much booze.

Come in, enjoy yourself, have a drink, but don't be a twit all night.

It's all right, darling.

This is the story of police officers, council wardens

and local volunteers whose job it is to keep it off our streets.

It's the person who's having to live next door to it

and having to put up with this. It's just not acceptable.

Welcome to Street Patrol UK.

Coming up on today's programme...

the misery of noisy neighbours.

Started at nine o'clock in the evening. That went on for at least...

-It was about 17 hours.

-About 17 hours.

And that's solid music.

A pub doorman on the sharp end of a night out in Northampton.

-You've been ejected, right?

-What was I kicked out for?

-Let me finish.

And the volunteers taking action against

fly-tipping on their streets.

There's a council tip about one and a half miles from here,

something like that.

It's your own responsibility. You know, grow up. Take ownership.

Antisocial behaviour comes in many different forms

but one of the worst is noise.

If you live next door to somebody who likes to crank up

the volume on their stereo, it will drive you bonkers.

Especially if they were partying all night long.

This is Peter and Carly Rogers.

They live in Somerset and their lives have been ruined by the man

who lives in the flat downstairs.

This fella likes his music, and he likes it loud.

Started at nine o'clock in the evening.

The music was absolutely so loud...

..you couldn't even hear the TV,

you couldn't hear yourself think.

And that went on for at least...

-It was about 17 hours.

-About 17 hours.

And that's solid music.

It sounds awful, but this wasn't a one-off.

It's been happening regularly for more than three months.

And it's driving them crazy.

You would hear the vibrations of all the music coming through the floor.

The TV would sort of rock.

We worry about the mirror coming off...

Take the mirror off the wall.

Go to work all week, looking forward to the weekend and next minute,

as soon as we sit down to relax, the music's on so loud.

It stresses me out a lot.

Can't put up with it. The noise, it gives you a headache after a while.

When I knocked a couple of times on the floor with my foot,

he then came up here to our flat...

..and he started to actually kick the door in.

Then he started to eff and blind, wanting me to come out for a fight.

BANGING ON DOOR

He was lifting up the letter box, trying to look in.

And on that night, Carly did have an asthma attack.

He just scares me, really.

Feel intimidated by him.

Don't feel safe walking out of the flat, either.

Cos I run down the stairs when I go out.

It's just an absolute nightmare.

I wouldn't like any other family

or any other couple to be put through this.

As you can imagine, Peter and Carly have got to the end of their tether.

And it doesn't seem like the nuisance neighbour

is up for any polite requests to quieten down.

So Peter and Carly have been keeping a diary,

writing down every time the music's been too loud

and how long it's been going on for.

And, now, armed with their evidence, they're seeking help.

We've called the Environmental Health out-of-hours team,

we've called the police on the 101 number.

We've had the police come round to our property on more than five

to ten occasions. It ruins your life when you've got it so loud.

-Drives you out of your own home.

-Yeah.

Peter and Carly live in a big block,

so they can't have been the only people whose walls were shaking.

The Housing Association that manages the building issued warnings

to the troublemaker, but he didn't change his ways.

And within a few weeks, sound monitors were installed

in Peter and Carly's flat.

With this particular equipment,

we install it in complainants' properties.

It's operated by them on a single-press button,

so when they get the problem with the noise they can hit this button

and it will trap and record the sound for a three-minute period.

Once the recordings are back at the district council,

they can be analysed to see just how bad it is.

What you see on screen here is a trace of the sound

that's being played throughout the whole duration

that the equipment's been in the house.

This is what's been audible in the complainant's property.

DISTORTED DANCE MUSIC

It might not sound like proper music

but that's because what you're hearing is

the noise of the bass in the song -

the bit that makes the building vibrate.

DISTORTED DANCE MUSIC

As you heard, in the break you saw,

when the music stopped in between the break on the CD,

how quiet it was. Then suddenly you're getting this level of music

coming over and above.

The severity and the impact of the level of music

affecting this household...

..was, personally, one of the worst I've heard myself

through a recording such as this.

I've heard licensed premises being worse - ie, pubs and clubs.

But from a domestic premises,

the intrusiveness of the noise in that flat was really causing loss

of amenity to the two residents that live there.

He took the equipment away and he said,

"It will take us a couple of days and we'll get back to you."

But it was within an hour, he took it back and listened to it

and got his staff, three colleagues, to witness it cos it was that bad.

Everyone now, from the police to the Environmental team,

they all know the severe-ness of the case when people say about music,

they know how loud it is.

If you've got someone with the authority of the Environmental Health

to turn round in an hour's time,

to say, "Yes, that's the worst I've heard in 15 years,"

that gives you a little bit of an eye-opener.

The Environmental Health team issued the man downstairs

with a noise abatement notice.

That's basically a warning that the situation constitutes a nuisance.

But after just two days

Peter and Carly are still reporting excessive noise.

So the big guns are going in.

Today we're going to serve a notice seeking possession on a resident,

who has caused noise nuisance to a neighbour above them.

The police and Housing Association take action and start proceedings.

I've been out and about on a street patrol of my own

to hear what bothers you about Britain today.

Devi, lovely to meet you. What's your daughter's name?

-My daughter's name's Aksha.

-How old?

-She's two.

And she's being so well-behaved, I love her already.

-Thank you.

-Now, let's talk about antisocial behaviour.

-What really gets your back up?

-Dog poo. Oh!

-It's a stinker, that one!

-Yeah.

-And that bothers everybody.

-Definitely.

-I mean, more owners cleaning up after themselves.

-Right.

If you somebody walk away from a mess their dog had just left,

-would you say something?

-Yes. And I have done so.

And they've been very polite and said, "I've run out of bags."

There was a man just opposite our house, he said,

"I've run out of bags," so I quickly run indoors,

get a bag for him and he was happy to clean it up.

-Did you really?

-Yeah, he was more than happy to clean it up.

-Thanks ever so much for your time. Bye-bye.

-Thank you very much.

Tell me what really bothers you.

As a young mum, and you've obviously got your hands full, what really winds you up?

Walking down the streets, you get people that are drunk

or on drugs and shouting abuse and that at you.

-And do you see much of that?

-Yeah.

-What really, really gets you going?

Noise at, like, stupid hours of the morning really annoys me.

People playing music early hours in the morning.

Do you get that much?

Uh...sometimes.

In the summer it's worse. Cos of the parties.

And you get that a fair bit with the neighbours?

Not any more. I used to.

It's quietened down a bit but it's mostly in summer now.

Nice talking to you both. Cheerio. And you, bye-bye.

There's nothing like a good night out with friends.

But, as bouncers all across the UK will tell you,

when the partying gets out of hand, people can get hurt.

And if anyone should know, it's head doorman Andy,

who's spent over 20 years making sure that the few don't spoil

the fun for the many at a busy pub in Corby in Northamptonshire.

Whoa, no way. Not now, mate.

You meet different people, different walks of life, different cultures.

Good fun.

We're here to see that people are safe and we like to see them

go home happy and say, "We'll see you next week."

But when you get 200 or 300 people in a venue...

..you've got the potential of fights.

Since we've worn the bodycam,

we don't get so many irate people.

They tend to stay more calm.

Because they know if they step out of line, they're being recorded.

In 2011, The Feathers pub was the first venue in the country

to trial body cameras for their door staff,

as part of a partnership with the police to help reduce violent crime

and antisocial behaviour.

Andy and his team have since become huge fans.

More door supervisors should be wearing them.

Because it can save a lot of problems.

On the door you get all kinds of allegations thrown at you.

Any door supervisor will tell you exactly the same.

It can be, "He slapped me, he pushed me, he spat at me."

With a bodycam, it's reduced all allegations by about 90%.

Apart from the drink-fuelled argy-bargy,

the other thorn in the side of any pub or club doorman is drugs.

We're not having that in the venue.

Because we are zero-tolerance on drugs.

We want to run as clean a venue as we can

because when drugs are involved it's unpredictable.

OK, you're under arrest for possession. You do not have to

say anything, it may harm your defence if you do not mention, when questioned,

something you later rely on in court.

Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand that?

Come in, enjoy yourself, have a good laugh, have a drink...

but go home, be happy.

Don't be a twit all night.

But it don't work like that.

He made my jacket fall off! You made my jacket fall...

Definitely that one there?

With the white T-shirt on?

Pete's gone out there, mate, so...

No, HE won't come back in.

He's just got a smack out in the back garden,

so Pete's gone out there to have a look, to see who it is.

The guy's come out, he's walked down there.

You can walk round and you do your round,

but as soon as you've gone by - bang! That's when it'll happen.

And as the night wears on, for Andy, there's no let up in the action.

-Well, obviously you've done something...

-I don't think I did.

..to be removed from the venue.

We've all got things that annoy us about the streets we live in.

Let's be honest, we all love a good moan

with the neighbours about how things aren't as good as they used to be.

But for some people, moaning isn't good enough.

They roll up their sleeves and they do something about it.

This is Sparkbrook in Birmingham,

named after the stream which once flowed through the area.

But now there's something much less appealing on these streets -

rubbish.

An endless stream of it. Beds, sofas, carpets, last night's dinner.

Piles and piles of the stuff littering every street corner.

And it's driving local residents bonkers.

People just put their rubbish here.

You see so many rats. These people should be punished, like a big fine.

Litter yesterday has been all over the road - bags,

weed...

And what the hell is that doing there? Come on!

You can't live like that.

I'm not an animal.

Something needs to be done.

The local council does its regular rubbish collections

but it can't keep up with the incessant fly-tipping.

So the people who live here are stepping up.

Once a week, volunteers get together to clean up the area themselves,

to try and make it a better place to live for everyone.

Someone's dropped a mattress, that's recent.

And on shift today is Ashraf, Rias and Javid.

Sunshine time here.

Hang on, let me put my gloves on.

We take the photos to actually have evidence that there's

rubbish on the streets.

And then when we remove it, we take the picture that it's been cleaned.

-LITTLE GIRL: Hello!

-Hello.

We take a photograph and then put it on the website.

So it gives a picture and history that we are trying to

actually make a difference to our streets.

And now we go to the next stage.

-This one here.

-Oh, you're joking! Look at that!

This is why these volunteers at the Sparkbrook Neighbourhood Forum

are so badly needed.

An alley down the side of a house has become a dumping ground.

Just gets dumped here for somebody else to move and it's unacceptable

and it's very irresponsible.

One bed one week could end up three beds, a settee

and a cupboard a month later.

Onto the next street.

But some days, this can feel like a never-ending job.

It's shocking but it makes you angry because there's systems in place.

To actually remove the rubbish there's refuse centres there

to actually get rid of rubbish, and people still decide to dump it

in the road so somebody else deals with it.

What's the point?

It's so easy.

There's a council tip about one and a half miles from here,

something like that.

It's your own responsibility. You know, grow up. Take ownership.

At least the local community appreciate what the guys are doing.

Three, two, one, yeah? Yeah! Come on!

CHEERING

-Hip-hip!

-ALL: Hooray!

-Hip-hip!

-ALL: Hooray!

-Hip-hip!

-ALL: Hooray!

HE LAUGHS

See, we've got our own fan club.

Weaning them young, right,

so by the time they're about 20 they'll be doing this instead of us.

-About 18, anyway, we hope. Are we done?

-Yeah, yeah. Next road.

We don't get paid for this.

We're residents and we really want to have pride in our area

and the only way to do it is to actually demonstrate -

we have to clean our own streets.

One, two, three!

Yeah, ready? Push!

Just because we're inner city doesn't mean we have to fit into any stereotypes.

People are put into pigeonholes

and then they put themselves into the pigeonholes.

And that's just kind of, like... you know, stop it.

No, you're doing a good job here, hopefully, you know?

-We could do better with if we had more people working together.

-What can they do?

Every week they're here, and the rubbish is...

They could pick it up but it's out of their hand unless whoever is putting

the rubbish, he or she should stop it, you know?

Then it's better for everybody.

But it's not good enough to just pick up this endless trail of rubbish.

The volunteers want to get to the root of the problem.

They knock on doors

and challenge people about what's been left on the pavement.

Do you know this rubbish here? Do you know who dumped it?

You never seen anybody?

What it is, is one of the guys here...

..he knows who's... Cos he lives here, you see.

The front garden of this block of flats is a complete mess.

The council has been round and is going to clear it up,

but in the meantime, it's the same old story -

rubbish attracts more rubbish.

They used to play badminton out here when the sun comes out,

they play volleyball and all sorts.

And they can't do jack now because somebody's done this.

Who's done this, bro?

Who's done this?

Who's chucked all this out?

-Not me.

-You seen them? Come on, you must've seen them.

We're always trying to identify the culprits

so we could actually educate them the correct way to remove it.

The problem is, if we do remove it,

we might actually encourage more dumping.

It's a gamble.

As long as the volunteers carry on collecting rubbish, some people

will carry on using them as their own private waste disposal team.

But the volunteers' work doesn't stop on the residential streets.

They've had real results transforming the whole community.

You can sit at home, you can moan, moan, moan,

complain, complain, complain,

but then you can actually get up and do something.

When people drop litter it's annoying,

but, OK, it can be picked up.

When people graffiti walls it can be cleaned off.

But in this next case, a particularly baffling instance

of antisocial behaviour, a bit of British history is lost to us all.

For ever.

This is All Saints Church

in the beautiful village of Newland in Gloucestershire,

about a mile from England's border with Wales.

And over the centuries, this place has been pretty important.

This church is quite special within the area of the Forest of Dean,

where we are. It's affectionately known as the Cathedral of the Forest.

It's one of the oldest churches in the area

and it's certainly the largest and the grandest.

It is such a magnificent building and such an old,

and, in some ways, fragile building.

You wouldn't expect it when you see these massive chunks of stone

and that sort of thing but it's like a very, very elderly person that

needs a lot of TLC in order to keep him or her still pottering around.

We have a lot of tourists.

I think we have something like 14,000 visitors a year.

People just come and enjoy the peace and quiet and like looking around

and seeing all the various artefacts that are around

and take a real interest.

The church was built around the start of the 13th century,

and inside there are many monuments to significant people.

It's one of the reasons hundreds of people visit every week

and the church runs tours.

This is the effigy of Robert de Wakering.

Robert de Wakering was the first rector of Newland Church,

appointed by King John in 1216.

Robert de Wakering is a very important figure

in the church's history.

He was the man who established All Saints for the king.

For centuries, parishioners have been able to look at a stone statue

commemorating him - except they can't any longer.

Because some idiot has stolen the statue's head.

I'd been working here for about a fortnight

and one morning I came in and I had that...

"Something's not quite right here."

You know that feeling when you know something's missing

but it takes about half an hour to be absolutely sure of what it was.

And I looked around and I looked at the effigy

and I thought, "I'm absolutely sure that Sir Robert had a head."

But, you know, you start to question yourself.

She said to me,

"I think the head, the effigy, of Robert de Wakering is missing."

And I've thought,

"It can't be!" Because it seemed so utterly extraordinary.

We'd done teas for an event just a few days previously

and we knew that he had a head then

because we were standing right by him.

I looked at it and I thought,

"Oh, my goodness, the head's gone!"

Because of it's age, this statue was an important

and striking work of art.

It's a wonderful piece of local early medieval carving.

It's got a sort of gutsiness and directness.

It speaks of one craftsman. He's put his best skills into it.

And he clearly put in many, many hours of hard graft because,

make no mistake, this isn't a small thing -

it's a hefty lump of stone about two feet wide.

So it's taken some muscle to get it out the door.

The head of Robert de Wakering was actually not attached to the body.

As so many of these effigies were originally in the churchyard

and, of course, over the years the stone gradually crumbles

and, like all the other effigies, they were brought in from the churchyard.

I've no idea when that one was brought in but, obviously,

at the time, the head was not attached to the body.

It is meant to be in the church. It is all to do with the church.

Away from the church, it doesn't have anything like the resonance

or meaning or value, really.

We could not understand why anybody would want to come in

and take just the head of an effigy.

What are they going to do with it?

Are they going to prop up their back door? I really don't know.

And that hasn't helped the police investigation.

There is apparently no motive.

It may be that they've stolen it for financial gain.

They feel that they will get a financial gain out of this

selling it to somebody else.

It may be because they actually wish to have it for themselves

for a private collection.

Or it may be that it's just been taken by somebody on a whim

because they can do it, and they've discarded it.

No-one seems to have seen a thing,

and that's part of the problem for rural churches - many of them

are left open during the day so they can be used by the community.

And that makes it easy for thieves to strike

if they think no-one's around.

It is the sort of mean little theft that leads to churches having

to shut their doors, and one of the great things about this church

is that people can come in and they can see 1,000 years of history.

I feel for the churches that just have to lock their doors

because they can't cope with having thefts of this kind.

This wasn't private property,

this was public property in the most public sense.

It's now several months since the antisocial stranger

crept into the church and swiped its founder's precious head.

And more than anything, the villagers would like it back.

If someone actually knows where it is

and is able to bring it back to the church,

that would be wonderful. We would love to have it back.

It needs to be back in its rightful place,

which is here at All Saints Church.

Antisocial behaviour is about lack of human decency

and disrespect for people around you.

And if someone's way of life is making yours a misery,

well, that's about as antisocial as gets.

But, lucky enough for you and me,

there are plenty of people out there that we can turn to.

And this series is their chance to shine.

We're on the front lines with the highly skilled teams

of council workers, police officers

and local volunteers who are committed to keeping our streets

safe and clean and taking on our antisocial battles on a daily basis,

to make sure that our lives are not blighted by other people's

bad behaviour.

This is Street Patrol UK.

Back in Somerset, the time has come to deal with a man whose loud music

has been making his neighbours climb the walls.

Started at nine o'clock in the evening.

The music was so loud you would hear the vibrations of all the music

coming through the floor, the TV would sort of rock.

And that went on for at least...

-It was about 17 hours.

-About 17 hours.

And that's solid music. It's just an absolute nightmare.

I wouldn't like any other couple to be put through this.

For the last few months, Peter and Carly's life has been made

thoroughly miserable by the guy who lives downstairs.

The noise was so severe that a noise abatement notice was served

by the Environmental Health.

And they said that it was one of the most severe cases

they've seen for about 15 years.

If the noise is severe enough, you will serve this notice,

and it's basically to force somebody to stop making that

type of noise, and it puts controls in place that if they break it,

they're in breach, then something serious happens.

Amanda's on her way to see the tenant, to deliver some paperwork

which will start the process.

It's awful that people do have to suffer this

type of nuisance from the neighbours but the people concerned have

done everything that has been asked of them.

They've provided evidence to both ourselves and the local authority,

they've remained calm at all times, which is really important

because that can affect the power of their evidence.

I'm glad we're at this point for them because they feel as if we're

coming towards the end of the journey and, you know...

they might no longer have to suffer.

You always get nervous when you do something like this.

But, yeah, it is what it is.

This is the end of the road for the noisy neighbour.

Hi, it's Amanda from Raglan.

Amanda is accompanied by police officers,

just in case tempers flare.

But once inside the man's flat, as we can hear,

she deals with it very calmly.

This is serious stuff.

This is notice seeking possession, which is being acted on.

So, obviously, big thing.

The man that claims that other neighbours also make noise

and he's being blamed for that as well.

If a neighbour is making a noise, you need to report it.

That's what you've not done and everything is down to you.

The man says he's been upstairs to apologise to his neighbours

but admits he lost his temper, which hasn't helped the situation.

Seek legal advice with this, OK? I will help all parties if I can

because at the end of the day, everybody just wants to live

peacefully together but as long as you do understand

that any noise nuisance, any disturbance, is not acceptable.

And this is the sort of thing that will happen, OK?

Thank you very much. Bye.

I don't think I expected it to go so well today

because it's quite an emotive subject. When you get

a notice seeking possession, your home is threatened.

So the calmest of people can act in a way that they wouldn't normally

when given that sort of news.

Amanda then goes upstairs to visit Peter and Carly and let them know

what's happened.

-Just to let you know, I've just served the notice.

-OK.

-It was received very calmly.

-Right.

And I've had assurances that there will be no repercussions from it.

Lovely.

So the next steps from our point of view are going to be actually

-making an application to the court for a possession date.

-OK.

-So are you still happy to attend court as witness?

-Yes, we are.

Really good news.

We're happy to do that cos we've been put through absolute hell so this is...

We've just got to follow it through, basically.

If you've got any concerns in the meantime,

same procedure as before. You contact us and we will respond.

Obviously that "treat as urgent" mark is still on the address.

-Lovely, yeah.

-Have you got any concerns about what happens next?

I'm a little bit anxious.

More anxious for my wife than I am for myself because nine times

out of ten, she's too scared to come out of the flat, even going to work.

That still worries me a little bit.

So many people are frightened to say anything or to make reports

cos they're worried of, you know, what could happen to them following that.

You shouldn't have to suffer in silence

and we will support people, we will investigate things fully.

-OK, thank you.

-I'll give you a call when I know about the court date.

-In the meantime, just ring if you need me.

-OK, no problem at all.

-Thank you.

-We'll be out and about.

-Let us know if you've got any concerns.

-OK, will do. Thank you.

Bad behaviour attracts more bad behaviour,

particularly on a boozy night out on the town.

That's when you need professionals with a very particular skill set,

to make sure that everybody has a good time.

Back at The Feathers pub in Corby, the evening is in full-swing

as revellers make the most of their night out.

Head doorman Andy and his team are seasoned veterans

when it comes to keeping the pain out of party-going...

When you get people swaying and they're knocking into people...

that's when you get a problem.

So you're best off trying to nip it in the bud.

..ensuring that even the most tricky of customers don't spoil it

for everyone else.

And sometimes the spectacle outside can be

just as diverting as the entertainment inside.

The night has already taken a turn for the worst for one reveller

who caught a nasty blow to his head during a heated argument

earlier in the evening.

It seems he's bounced back and is ready to pick up where he left off.

I was literally just talking to this girl, and as the night went on,

some guy in the club was hanging around more and more and more.

And all of a sudden, I went outside where most people were smoking,

and he just cracked me in the face.

The guy that got the smacking, you know,

that is antisocial behaviour to me.

No need for it.

You're right, Andy.

But it seems some people just can't help themselves.

Put your drink down.

Put your drink down, do as he says.

And then it becomes an expensive mess for the rest of us to clear up.

Walk now...keep going.

In England and Wales alone, antisocial behaviour costs you

and me, the great British taxpayer, £3.4 billion a year.

Just imagine what we could do with that

back in the country's coffers.

Obviously it was bit upsetting for my friends and that,

cos I was bleeding quite a lot.

But, no, it's fine now. We're all fine.

Just going to enjoy the rest of my night with my friends, that's it.

From Andy's point of view, it's all in a night's work.

What I've seen, it's not been too bad.

We've had one incident.

Hopefully we don't get no more.

I think you might have jumped the gun there, Andy.

If you've been ejected, you've been ejected, right?

-Why was I kicked out?

-Let me finish.

The guy's arguing he's put out for no reason ...

Well, obviously you've done something...

-I don't think I did.

-..to be removed from the venue.

One of me colleagues caught him chucking his drink in the air

like that, covering other customers in there.

We don't have it, so he was asked to leave.

And customers need to think twice if they think Andy will put up

with any nonsense right under his nose - even if it's outside the pub.

What happened outside... Please don't slap me.

Guys, guys!

I was talking to you like a man.

Let's talk!

I think there was a little bit of an altercation inside.

Then the guys have come out there...

They've sorted it out out here, not in there.

It's out here, it's down to the police.

But none of them are coming back in, not tonight.

And it seems that the safe haven that Andy and his fellow doormen

have created around the pub has attracted at least one partygoer

looking for some respite from the night's action.

One guy's gone down to the local taxi rank,

the other guys have met him down there

and this guy has had a bit of slap.

He's got a nice lump on the side of his cheek

and a bit of a cut or a graze on the top of his head.

But that's what drink does. That is what drink does.

Not good, not good.

I'm assuming they'll be best of buddies again tomorrow.

Andy manages to keep smiling through all the action the night

throws at him. And finally, at 4am, it's time to wind down.

We're all finished, empty, cleaned out,

ready to shut the doors.

Just go home now. Feet up, cup of tea, bed.

Let's hear a bit more about what bothers you in Britain today.

It's lovely to meet you. Tell me what people do, antisocially,

that really winds you up.

One of the main things that really winds me up is

when people spit on the floor. I just think it's really disgusting.

It's unnecessary. Get a bit of tissue or...

-Do you know what? Nearly everybody says that.

-Really?

-That's probably number one.

-Yeah, it's disgusting.

-What else?

-Cheeky teenagers.

They just get really cheeky on the bus.

BOY SCREAMS OBNOXIOUSLY

-Bit like that one?

-Yeah, bit like that one.

But, yeah, and when they're really cheeky on the bus

and they won't get up and let old people sit down.

-Do you ever say anything to them?

-I have done in the past, yeah.

I've said, "I think you should get up and let the old people sit down."

-And what have they said?

-"Why should I?"

And I'm like, "Because, out of respect.

"You know, you can sit longer... stand longer than this old lady can."

If you saw someone spitting in the street, would you say something?

Yeah, I'd give them a little dirty look and say,

"Why do you have to do that?"

Give me a dirty look.

Go on, imagine I just done it.

-Is that it?

-Is that not dirty - bad enough, no?

-No.

Right in their face, go on.

-Michael, it's nice to meet you.

-Thanks.

What bothers you about antisocial behaviour?

Well, in my street there's different things going on

one end of the road and then neighbours and things like that,

just really gets up your nose.

OK, obviously neighbours can't get up your nose.

What is it they're doing that's winding you up?

Well, I just try and put a stop to bad behaviour,

as in swearing, that sort of thing.

Back in Sparkbrook in Birmingham, residents had been in despair

at the amount of rubbish and flagrant fly-tipping

littering their streets.

People just put rubbish here.

So you see so many rats.

Litter yesterday has been all over the road.

Bags.

Weeds.

You can't live like that. I'm not an animal.

So they formed a neighbourhood group

and now volunteers get together at the weekends to go round the streets

clearing them of anything and everything that's been dumped.

We don't get paid for this. We're residents and we really want to have

pride in our area and the only way to do it is actually demonstrate -

we have to clean our own streets.

It's making a dramatic difference

and the local community is delighted.

-Hip-hip!

-ALL: Hooray!

-Hip-hip!

-ALL: Hooray!

-Hip-hip!

-ALL: Hooray!

HE LAUGHS

But it's not just on the streets where the volunteers

are making their mark.

This is Larches Park.

It's a beautiful and welcoming green space in the heart of the community,

well-used by dog-walkers, families,

and people taking time out with the paper.

But it wasn't always like this. It used to be a no-go area.

It was a haven for antisocial behaviour,

with people hanging around, drinking, smoking, using drugs.

It was intimidating for the local residents

and it meant they just didn't come here.

But that was before Sparkbrook's army of volunteers

came to the rescue.

Ali is an IT engineer by day.

He runs an archery club and helps out in his local school.

But he still manages to find time to volunteer as the chair

of the Sparkbrook Neighbourhood Forum.

And over the past five years,

he and his fellow volunteers have had a massive impact on the area.

We've had the new... The lighting repainted, the bins put in.

We've had the benches put in the park

so that people have places to do things.

I've got two children of my own.

And when I first moved here, I was taking them

to another park cos all we had here was two swings.

Now we have everything we need here.

There's been a complete change here.

Now local families regularly use the park

and the antisocial behaviour has been kicked out.

Ali's latest project is to bring flowers to the park.

Just like the street clearance that the other volunteers

have been doing, this is another step in reclaiming this area

for local people and making sure it stays that way.

We've got these flowers in. Put the herbs in now.

And, if you look carefully...

-..the bulbs.

-Oh, yeah, they're sprouting.

-So it's been here for about a month now, hasn't it?

-Four weeks, yeah.

Four weeks, so...

That's fine.

From where you guys started to where you are now,

it's, again, made a difference.

It was a kind of a dump, wasn't it? Just loads of litter.

There was a load of bushes, overgrowth.

Just to get it cleaned up and to get it transformed to this,

again, it's an achievement within itself.

Like we do with everything else round this block, do it yourself.

-Show people it can be done.

-Absolutely.

-That's the way it works.

-Absolutely.

-Than waiting, let's get it done.

-Yeah.

If we make it more attractive then it will send the right message

to people - we don't want rubbish here. And it has worked.

I've only picked up, like,

three pieces of rubbish off this patch in the last four weeks.

No bottles, no cans, nothing.

So it's been really, really nice.

And some of the people who regularly sit in the park have said,

"We'll look after it for you. We'll make sure no-one touches it."

This park belongs to the community,

not to that small minority who push us away from the park.

For the last four years, we've done an adventure park

called the Easter Event,

and we get 500, 600, 700 people coming in.

We have an Easter egg hunt, we have a bouncy castle,

we have other things going on.

Whereas once we had that distant relationship with people

who came to the park, it's now more of a community feel.

People have said, "This is a nice park now."

From where it was, people didn't want to come to the park.

You can sit at home, you can moan, moan, moan,

complain, complain, complain,

but then you can actually get up and do something.

Since we've filmed with our antisocial saviours,

we've got some updates for you.

In Somerset, life has got much better for Peter and Carly

since the eviction notice was served on their noisy neighbour.

And their advice to anyone else who finds themselves in their situation

is that there are people out there willing to help you.

You need to speak up.

If you don't speak up, no-one will know.

You need to get hold of the Environmental team.

You need to get hold of your Housing Association.

You need to get hold of the police.

It will get to court and it will get sorted out.

In the New Forest there's still been no breakthrough in the mysterious

case of Robert de Wakering's missing head.

Despite the theft, the parishioners are determined

to continue to keep the church open to visitors.

And in Sparkbrook, the volunteers are still going strong,

making their community a nicer place to live.

They're working hard to persuade people

to take their rubbish to the dump instead of leaving it on the streets

and now hold regular events in the newly refurbished park.

And for pub doorman Andy, he continues to keep his good humour

in the face of other people's bad behaviour.

We like to see them come into our venue,

go home happy and say, "We'll see you next week."

Then we know we've done our job. That makes our night.

That's your lot for today. See you next time.

Subtitles By Red Bee Media Ltd