Re today's earlier article.
Thank you for your comments. Please see attached the statement to the press hopefully giving a more balanced view.
"After recent ramraids we keep a watchful eye on anyone photographing the front of our jewellers which Mr Sparshott, on the 17th November, was doing. When Mr Sparshott made his visit he admits himself he was swearing loudly at my officer when asked politely what he was doing. Despite what has been said we gave no life ban from the Centre, did not take his camera, did not call him a terrorist, and we did not see grandchildren with him which would have made it more understandable. I have already apologised to Mr Sparshott if either the contract security officer (who has now left) or duty manager didn't explain this clearly."
Ken,
ReplyDeleteI know you don’t issue two awards in one week, but an obvious candidate comes to mind for next Monday.
I shall have to remove The Fareham Shopping Centre from my list of places to boycott.
ReplyDeleteIt appears that in this case the shopping centre acted reasonably.
Ken, where did you get the original story from? If it came from the press it appears they issued an unbalanced piece. If it came from Trevor, he was obviously trying to be clever, but failed.
Now who could that candidate for next week's prat of the week be...
Well, seems you blog is being taken very seriously Ken, for a non-event as implied.
ReplyDeleteWhat might one make of that I wonder?
Given that the events are some weeks old I am surprised that the 'full' information is not being circulated as a joint story with both points of view.
Of course and ex-pat living in Spain and photographing a jeweller's shop near a ferry port might indeed attract attention.
I presume that real truth of events will be hidden behind the 30 year security rule?
Even if the story is indeed distorted It is interesting that so many of us seem to perceive that such an event is entirely possible in our current age. I mentioned it to a couple of people today and they did not seem surprised and nor did they question the likelihood of the events.
Grant
Just want to say 'Thanks' for being here.
ReplyDeleteI know that I am a cynic, but the Fareham Shopping Centre's rebuttal of the story seems just a little too neat to me.
ReplyDeleteNote that the (unnamed) contract security officer no longer works for the Centre (how convenient - no longer available for comment).
So, this was all a misunderstanding caused by Mr Sparshott's unreasonable behaviour.
While I realise that many people living in Britain have come to accept the word of 'authority figures' without question; for many of us who live abroad, there still remains an automatic refusal to blindly obey orders from some jumped-up jobsworth. If this involves swearing, so be it!
Frankly, my sympathy still lies with Mr Sparshott; particularly since the story seems to hinge on the idea of a security officer having 'asked politely'what he was doing.
Don't withdraw the 'Prat of the Week' award just yet Ken; I think the Centre is bullshitting!
You can always tell how far up themself someone is when they talk of "my officer."
ReplyDeleteI think the ramraids is just a weak attempt at a justification, if it is a serious problem they would engineer a solution, not just keep an eye on people photographing in the vicinity of the jewellers. I mean, get real, ramraiding ain't Oceans Eleven, a quick recce to establish a vehicle path is all that's needed.
'he admits himself he was swearing loudly", which could amount to: "Mind your own bloody business, sunshine." I don't care how polite nanny's goons are, if they butt into my life without good reason (i.e. 99.9% of the time) then that is my response. I don't swear beyond bloody, but if nanny persists in minding my business, I feel free to use words such as "useless", "jobsworth" and "prat".
Security guards saying things that they are not authorised to say is hardly a novelty, I was "banned for life" from a shopping centre in Reading for photographing a water feature. I didn't make an issue of it because I had a train to catch and had no plans to ever go back to Reading, but I'm quite sure that if I had, the management of the centre would have assured me that I was not banned.
I voluntarily banned myself from shopping centres. Having lived for 10 years in the USA, with my American wife who lived in the bloody mall, I don't care if I ever set foot in one again.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that I do like to laugh at the security staff who stand at the doors of our local mall with earpieces, spiffy pseudo copper uniforms and expressions on their faces as if they were guarding the President stepping out of his limo, when all the useless failed coppers do is tell the local yoof to put out the rather large and fragrant cigarettes they seem to enjoy smoking around the mall enterance,
I used to work for Pam Gillard, the centre manager of Fareham Shopping Centre, as a security officer back in 1993. I can honestly say that she is the most professional, sincere and inspirational boss that I have ever had the privellage to work for.
ReplyDeleteIn my time I have dealt with people who cannot see the harm in photographing the interiors of shopping centres. Unfortunately these people do not see what is happening behind the scenes. In a normal year, one without advanced terroist threats to mainland UK, a shopping centre will receive dozens of "be on your guard" mailers from the police. In a time of national threat the manager of a city shopping centre will be instrumental to the city centre's Major Incident Plan. The general public don't need to know this happens, they just want to shop ... that's fine. But they would be the same general public that would criticise the centre management if it was found that a bomber had planned his attack using holiday photographs that had been 'innocently' posted on the interent etc.
In 1993/94 ish I was able to see Pam Gillard command a major evacuation of Winchester Shopping Centre. She was the last civilian out of the centre, handing control over the bomb disposal experts. She arranged the complete evacuation of a city centre shopping centre and the cordonning off of central Winchester ... and I'm pretty sure we got a few complaints from people who wanted to shop that day too.
I would say go to Fareham Shopping Centre and see how a shopping centre should be run ... with the safety of the general public and the shop staff in mind at all times. Oh, and if you see Pam, send my regards.