Petition launched calling for action over ‘growing tide of anti-social abuse’ in Broadstairs

June 22, 2025 Kathy Bailes News 51

Disturbances in Broadstairs 2025

A petition has been raised calling on Thanet council and Kent Police to tackle the ‘growing tide of anti-social abuse’ witnessed in Broadstairs.

Resident Sophie Jones is calling for action following fights, attacks on business staff, shop closures due to theft and verbal abuse and underage drinking by large groups of young people from Thursday (June 19).

On Thursday staff at Sardinia restaurant had to fend off an attack from youths, one of which hurled a chair through the window, while they protected a boy inside who had run away from the mob.

On Saturday yet more trouble erupted with shops closing early and Kent Surf School shutting its doors due to the disruption.

On Thursday three arrests were made on suspicion of offences relating to public order, assault and criminal damage.

Two boys aged 16 and 17, and a 15-year old girl, all from Thanet, have since been released on bail pending further enquiries.

Kent Police put in place a dispersal order which was extended by 48 hours yesterday. The dispersal order covers The Broadway, along Albion Road, Baird’s Hill, Lindenthorpe Road, Crow Hill and the Vale, Viking Bay and Louisa Bay beaches as well as the High Street, Piermont Park and Broadstairs Railway Station.

An order has also been put in place for Margate following an incident where armed police and dog units were called in. One man was arrested while another suffered an injury to his arm, believed to be a stab wound.

‘Surge in violent crime’

On the petition page it says: “We, the residents, businesses, and visitors of Broadstairs, call on Thanet District Council and Kent Police to implement stronger, permanent measures to put a stop to the growing tide of anti-social behaviour affecting our town – especially underage drinking, looting, verbal abuse, fighting, drug use, and property damage.

“In the week commencing the 16th June, (which coincided with end of school exams and hot weather), our town has seen a surge in violent crime. A large group of youths attacked staff at an Italian restaurant, hurling chairs, smashing a window, and inflicting nearly £2,000 in damage – while others filmed and egged on the violence in front of stunned diners.

“That evening also saw underage street drinking, fighting on the beaches and at the train station, shoplifting, and vandalism – prompting Kent Police to issue dispersal orders and make arrests.

“Not more than 24 hours into this order, the town was once again overrun, with a repeat of behaviour that had been seen earlier in the week. In addition, national retailers and locally owned family businesses, had no option but to shut their doors, following large scale looting and abuse. Many beach users on Viking Bay left early, fearing for their safety.

“Despite temporary dispersal zones used repeatedly over 2024 and into the summer of 2025, the scale and frequency of incidents shows little sign of abatement. There has been a total absence of any consistent police presence, with responsibility seemingly falling to two, young “security” staff, who have no authority or powers, offering zero deterrent.

“We are concerned for public safety as well as that of local businesses who are facing serious threats with damaged property, frightened customers, and financial losses. The public safety and enjoyment of Broadstairs has declined, especially along beaches and promenades. Current measures are clearly failing – repeat offenders continue to return despite dispersal orders, fines, and PSPO restrictions.

We respectfully demand:

  • Enhanced police powers and permanent measures to expand Public Spaces Protection Orders and empower Kent Police to enforce aggressively – especially against underage drinking, drug use, abusive language, and violence.
  • Extend dispersal zones permanently throughout summer on beaches, the High Street, railway station, and recreation areas.
  • Stronger sanctions for repeat offenders with harsher fines, Community Protection Notices, Anti‑Social Behaviour Orders, and criminal prosecutions for persistent perpetrators – especially minors.
  •  Boost community policing presence – reintroduce “bobbies on the beat” to offer high-visibility, familiar figures in our town. This approach halved ASB in a similar seaside community in Cumbria within months
  • Increase patrols at peak times, supported by PCSOs, Police Sergeants, and targeted outreach teams.
  • Thanet District Council to hire security firms with ex-military personnel to patrol our beaches.
  •  Improved monitoring and community accountability – publish regular reports on incidents, arrests, and sanctions. Hold quarterly public consultations with businesses, schools, and residents to review and refine tactics.

“Broadstairs is not just any other town – it is a seaside destination cherished by families, tourists, and owners of independent businesses. The surge in violent incidents, theft, alcohol-fuelled disorder, and drug use is eroding its charm, safety, and economic health.”

The petition adds that Broadstairs is a town “seemingly abandoned” with no permanent police station and “urgent, visible, and sustained action” is needed.

Some 800+ people have signed since this morning. Many said they would like to see the action apply to all the Thanet towns and increased enforcement at railway stations.

Find the petition page by clicking here

‘Urgent answers’

East Thanet MP Polly Billington said: “The scenes that have been witnessed on Broadstairs beach over the past week are completely unacceptable. Violence, crime, and antisocial behaviour have no place on our streets and are causing real harm to members of our community, local businesses, and our seaside economy.

“I have been in contact with Kent Police to request urgent answers on how this disorder got so out of hand and why they struggled to enforce existing dispersal orders. I want to see a much tougher response to recent public disorder in Thanet and will continue to engage with the police to get a more robust plan in place.

“I will be organising an engagement session between myself, the local police, and the Broadstairs community in the coming weeks so we can bring people together and find solutions. If local residents have views they want to share with me, please don’t hesitate to email my office.”

Public Spaces Protection Orders

Thanet council is  currently planning to introduce Public Spaces Protection Orders (PSPOs)  to combat antisocial behaviour in Broadstairs, Margate, Ramsgate and Westgate-on-Sea.

Two previous PSPOs related to alcohol and antisocial behaviour came to the end of their three year lifespan in July 2024.

The orders apply to behaviour in public spaces – any place that is open and accessible to people in the areas referred to. This can mean roads, high streets, the beach and parks.

There are seven orders proposed. These are all similar to orders that were in force previously and relate to different types of antisocial behaviour:

  • groups congregating and causing harassment, alarm or distress to other people
  • misuse of public spaces
  • using foul or abusive language within the hearing or sight of another person who is likely to be caused harassment, alarm or distress by this
  • urinating, defecating or spitting in a public place
  • taking psychoactive substances such as nitrous oxide
  • being abusive to others or behaving in a way that is likely to cause them to feel humiliated or degraded
  • using alcohol in a public space if behaving in a way that is likely to cause harassment, alarm or distress

If agreed, the rules will come into force this summer for a period of three years, and would apply to anyone in the district of Thanet.

Enforcement officers will have the authority to enforce the rules and issue Fixed Penalty Notices (FPN). The penalty is £100 to be paid within 28 days but is reduced to £60 if paid within 14 days.

Dispersal order put in place following youths fighting, smashing windows and causing disturbances in Broadstairs

Armed police and dog units attend Margate High Street incident – one man arrested

Frustration as Broadstairs shops close due to youth disturbances reported across the town

51 Comments

    • Probably getting excited at the thought of the UK young & disabled fighting for Netanyahu & Cheeto Man in the upcoming World War 3, that her leader paperboy Starmer will drag us into.

    • Good point! She loves attending gallery and school functions but is she doing anything about the atrocious lack of police presence in Broadstairs.
      I was unaware of this until today- Sunday 22nd -and was wondering why I saw 4 police along the promenade on Friday… now I know why- they should be on the beat the whole summer long.

  3. Bunch of police and sniffer dogs at the station will probably cut the crime in half. Might push problems to other towns so need to repeat there.

  4. She’s right to be concerned about other countries but should also be concerned about this country. When the so-called free world is illegally bombing other countries, breaking international law, abandoning human rights and pardoning Trumpian insurrectionists, a Labour government is cutting welfare benefits for the poor, elderly and disabled and one-third of the country is saying it will vote for far right racists at the next general election, why do you think the kids are kicking off in the streets? Why do you think they think it’s OK and that they’ll get away with it?

      • Maybe you’re right. How about Boris’ No.10 booze parties during COVID lockdown and the PPE multi-billion pound fraud as inspirations for drunkenness and theft? Biblical levels of famine and slaughter are a bit much even for Broadstairs!

        • Punk Rocker – what planet are you on. Come up to date and stop blaming the past. These ferals have parents whose parenting skills I suggest are zero. There behaviour is indicative of today’s society and will only get worst. Unfortunately too late in our slack world to clamp down hard on them. Maybe threat of WW3 and conscription might rein in their excesses

    • These kids have no interest in any of the things you list. They’re largely self obsessed and delusional , their thinking distorted by all the social media they consume, have no regard for others and know that they can do pretty well anything they want and the chances of getting held to account just about zero ( especially if in a big crowd) they can shoplift at will as the police won’t even turn up and shopkeepers and staff are petrified of being intervening physically ( which is the only way you can stop a shoplifter). The worse they behave the greater the street cred thay amass.
      The police need to wade through them using batons liberally, after being hit on the ankle/knee/wrist or elbow they’ll be pretty much incapacitated, if it breaks a few bones never mind. The disorder would soon cease.
      There are nowhere near enough facilities to lock even a tiny percentage and given most would be considered minors the resources it would tie up would be such that it won’t happen.
      When they present themselves for medical treatment if not from thanet they get sent on their way to be treated at their own hospitals.
      Being nice to thugs is pointless, by all means we can carry on in the same vein but it’ll only get worse.

  6. They have the videos, they didn’t even bothered to cover their faces! No arrests so what is the police waiting for?
    Residents will take action by signing and otherwise! Then the police will intervene.
    Forget about Polly (aka MP) totally USELESS! We don’t count on her anymore, just resign and GO AWAY!!!

  7. Not looking good for our new MP shipped down from London because locals aren’t up to the job!

  9. Maybe declare national emergency which mean troops on the streets .. broadstairs is a dangerous no go area now .. stay at home or face being attacked by angry mobs .. I’m scared to go out at all now

  10. Yes, another moral panic.
    Fine, you want more police,more resources,and regular foot patrols, so pay your taxes.We get regular moans from the businesses about this or that, but both the police and TDC rely on council tax as business rates get relief up to a certain level.To be fair how about a 10p levy on each on line transaction?
    Ww are where are because of austerity and it is still ongoing.

    • George Nokes You have many answers don’t you? How about standing in the next local government elections as a candidate and putting all pronouncements to the electorate?

    • George… Do you agree that Polly should be visiting Broadstairs business owners, or (at the very least) mentioning it on her social media accounts? Or are you happy with her non-action?

    • I already pay an absurd amount in tax. Online transactions are already subject to vat like high street transactions. Majority of broadstairs trade is food and drink, so not really affected by online sales.
      The nations finacial woes are laregely based on the fact that too many people do to little and the scales have tipped the wrong way. Some of this can be attributed to our decades long drive to deindustrialise and our absurd net zero policies that mean we have some of the worlds highest industrial energy costs.
      Not so much austerity as nalmce sheet realities. The current government has told us how it wants to deal with this, remains to be seen if driving away those that previously comtributed the most is going to make things easier for the rest of us. But hey ho why let financial reality get in the way of ideology. Seemingly equality ny levelling everyone down is reasonable if it meams those dastardly rich people are no longer part of our society.

  11. i am waiting for someone – we all know to deny this sort of thing ever happens in thanet – despite this recording , or has she gone quiet?

  12. Polly will ve getting emails I am sure.If this continues and is not a one off,and the business owners set up a meeting she should attend.
    She will be running constituency surgeries, so those seeking action can talk to her face to face.You don’t have to email and then moan if she doesn’t reply,you can see her directly.
    As for me running for office,done that got the tee shirt.
    I have got proposals, but if people choose to believe in DOGES and fairies at the bottom of the garden what’s the point Laurence.
    It’s better to have alternatives than constantly rant and rage to no purpose.

      • A meeting with whom? How do you know there isn’t action being taken behind the scenes? You just assume there isn’t. ‘Lazy cow’is a bit of low one even from you, Peter.

        • Jenny Matterface- “Lazy cow” is not as insulting as “Welsh whore”, which Peter Checksfield has called me on a comments thread on Isle of Thanet News.

        • “Lazy cow” is an accurate description, not an insult (I’ve been called far worse by employers, and not taken offence – but I guess I’m less sensitive than many people of today!). She’s infamous for rarely ever responding to even polite emails… so again, lazy cow!

          • Oh Peter! Cows are beautiful animals but I do take your point. Thankfully I have a very assiduous MP who is here there and everywhere in their geographically large constituency. Always interesting that some of the left are always happy to dish it out but they get all huffy if someone tells a few home truths! Thanet East would have been better off with a leftwing firebrand than the Starmer approved individual parachuted in!

    • Yes of course George ‘As for running for office, done that and got the tee shirt’ It obviously slipped my mind I asked you in a previous post but you seemed at that stage a bit coy where you stood and whether you were elected. So where did you run for office and were you elected?

      • Before you were born I suspect and since, Laurence.Take my word for it,I know how councils work, as opposed to the amateur hour at KCC, with people who have a superficial knowledge of local govt.
        As has been said b
        Perhaps if interfering right wing libertarians from the so called Free speech union had not put their oar in, the police might have an easier time collaring the lot.

  14. Here we go punishment, birch them etc etc. Give these kids things to do spend money on kids activities not police, so they have things to do rather than having no real options so do stupid things. Punishment never works, but engaging them giving them alternatives, something they enjoy does. Open the schools during summer holidays for summer camps, football camps etc, but make them free. If St Lawrence College can make a profit from this need the demand is there, just most ordinary parents can’t afford those costs. Tackle the reasons not the results.

    • They’re not going to stop drinking and looting because school playing fields are open in the summer holidays. I grew up in a rough crime-ridden housing estate in South London and left school with no qualifications, but I never committed any crimes or took drugs… why? Because I was raised properly.

      • So the cause is not the illegal violence of the state or political corruption, it’s not poverty and unemployment or how the disabled and elderly are treated, it’s not underfunded and crumbling schools, it’s not Tory cuts to police numbers, it’s not cash strapped councils cutting back on public spaces and social work provision, it’s not the housing crisis, it’s not polluted waterways and oceans or profiteering CEOs behaving illegally. In short it’s nothing to do with the venal privatised criminality of older generations who can’t even organise a decent criminal justice system with adequate prisons and probation officers—it’s just that we’re not liberal enough with the truncheon and the birch. Fine.

    • You are correct. There is ample evidence that corporal punishment normalises violence, and results in young people growing up to think that violence is the correct response to every situation.

      • It seems to have escaped your attention that these cretins have already normalised violence as part of their behaviour, as such the obvious response is to demonstrate the downsides of their actions directly to them, if nothing else with a brocken bone they’ll be unable to create havoc for 6 weeks or so and even then be a bit more cautious before playing up in future.
        As it currently stands their behaviour is pretty much risk free and it enboldens them and encourages the rest of the pack to join in, the criminal justice system under its current rules of engagement can’t cope. Eventually there will be a serious injury to an innocent passer by whislt that injury may not have been the concious intention of the idiot involved it’ll ne the direct result, what happens then?
        The gang of girls shoplifting because they know they can’t be stopped are hardly going to stop voluntarily, they all need a lesson taught to them before it all goes too wrong.

  15. Petition “respectfully demanding” to expand Public Spaces Protection Orders. But why didn’t TDC replace the one that ran out in 2024? Oh yeah, they did. Free Speech Union objected and got it cancelled.

    • A PSPO for the scenes over the weekend would achieve nothing. The behaviours exhibited were more than sufficient for the police to act. What are the councils wombles going to do? The police had no chance of taking control over the weekend unless
      A- there were 40 plus officers available to try and control things peaceably
      B- you had half a dozen suitably equipped officers who had permission to hand out a physical rebuke if people didn’t do as they were told.

      So long as the miscreants involved choose not to do as they’re asked , nothing short of physical restraint is going to stop them or deter others. If the Nicey Nicey brigade think a pspo is the answer they’re deluded.

      Going forward , the arrival of large numbers of teenagers needs to be prevented, if there’s any hint of a problem any shop selling alcohol needs to shut, the police need to turn up with sufficient resources to shut things down fast, those arrested need charging to full extent of the law.

      Ne amazed if any of that happens, so we’ll have to put up with it, choose if we want to go into broadstairs, decide to leave if it looks as though there might be trouble. Not good for local busineses or residents. The wonders of modern society.

  16. It all boils down to the kids not being disciplined properly. To many pc people that don’t want the little darlings to suffer. They weren’t nipped in the bud now they are all out of control. What we need are boot camps where kids that misbehave are sent to learn how to behave properly.

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