A mother living on a Bermondsey council estate has told of her fear at having to squeeze past drug dealers and people smoking drugs walking with her child – just to leave her flat.
The woman, who lives on the Aylwin Estate to the east of Tower Bridge Road, said she and fellow residents have had to deal with three or four dealers making multiple drug deals a day, drug users injecting themselves and lying passed out on stairs and in landings, and people urinating and defecating in public.
Speaking to Southwark councillors at the monthly assembly on Wednesday (March 23), the woman said she and her fellow residents were begging for a new CCTV camera to be put up so police can catch the dealers and stop them selling drugs – as well as lockable external doors and fencing.
“I don’t want to be here today, but I feel I have no choice,” the woman said.
“We haven’t been leaving the house much but already I’ve twice had to carry him out past men waiting for drugs on our stairway. I ask you to imagine this: our stairs are narrow, there’s not really enough room for two people to pass comfortably, you have to carry your baby past a person who is bigger than you, imposing, you both have to turn to the side to get through.
“You know he’s slightly desperate for drugs and unpredictable. It’s terrifying.
“Groups of people sit down and cook up on the stairs, and when, as a resident you want to leave your house, you have to step over limbs and walk through clouds of goodness knows what. It’s extremely scary and I now dread going up and down the stairs to my home.”
Other reports of incidents on the estate include someone trying to rob a disabled resident and a drug dealer glassing a customer over a money dispute, the woman said.
She added that residents felt sorry for the people who find themselves in these desperate situations, but that residents “are being greatly impacted by these problems” and it “is not sustainable or fair for anyone to endure.”
Speaking at the meeting, Cllr Darren Merrill, Southwark’s cabinet member responsible for safety in the borough, said he was sorry that residents had to endure such horrible scenes in their home. He said that he would visit the estate the next day to meet residents and discuss the problems in more detail, and that the council would consider putting in a CCTV camera.
