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EVE Buckley holds one of the hoax letters, surrounded by her worried Wagstaffe Street neighbours.
ASBO threat a fake
Emma Mountford and Jeni Harvey23/ 3/2006
HOAX letters threatening parents with legal action because their children are allegedly 'causing a nuisance' have angered local families.
Shocked parents on Wagstaffe Street, Cheapside, received correspondence claiming to be from Rochdale Council's Safer Communities Partnership.
The letters cite five separate complaints about their children's behaviour, including 'playing football on the street' and 'chasing motor vehicles', and finish by threatening them with the courts.
An extract reads: "These are only a few of the complaints received. All of which come under the Anti-Social Behaviour Act 1999.
"You may interpret this letter as a formal warning. If this behaviour continues we will have no option but to start with legal proceedings against you."
Although the letter is printed on Rochdale Council headed paper, there are a number of inaccuracies which prove them to be fakes. The signatory of the letter, an Anti-Social Behaviour officer, no longer works for the council. The address at the top is also wrong, as the hoaxer has put the Safer Communities Partnership address as Fashion Corner, Drake Street, Rochdale.
This is actually the address of the Revenue and Benefits unit, suggesting that the author of the letter has scanned in one of their own letters from the benefits team to create the fake.
Another problem is the citation of the Safe Neighbourhood Act 6923 - there is no such act - and the fact that the letters arrived in scrawled handwritten envelopes.
Ann Edwards' daughter, Eve Buckley, was one of the parents who was stunned to received a hoax letter. Ann said: "The letter mentioned several complaints about her two children and other children on Wagstaffe Street and nearby Borrowfield. They were accused of playing football in the street, throwing stones, knocking on residents doors and other things. The letter said it was a formal warning under the ASBO act 1999."
Eve had just returned from Booth Hall Children's Hospital with her youngest son, who had broken his arm, when she was confronted by a number of her neighbours who had also received the letter.
Ann added: "My daughter is obviously very stressed. She had been at the hospital for two days with her five-year-old son. All the neighbours are upset about it as well.
"What I don't understand is that if people on the street had a problem with the children, then why didn't they just say something rather than going to such lengths. Not one person has complained to my daughter."
Ann admits that her grandchildren play football in the street because there is nowhere else for them to go, but says that if someone had told them to stop then they would have done immediately.
She added: "They are talking about children aged between three and eight. It is just ridiculous - how dare anybody send a letter out like that?
"We've no idea who they're from but whoever it is hasn't got the decency to come out and tell us that there's something wrong. These letters insult our intelligence."
Rochdale Council has confirmed that the letters are fakes.
A spokesman said, "These letters have not been sent from the council.
"We have obtained a copy, which appears to be a poorly scanned letterhead, and we are investigating where it may have originated."
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30/03/2006 at 10:43
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