Gloucestershir: .LET'S STOP THE RELENTLESS RISE OF THE YOBS

LET'S STOP THE RELENTLESS RISE OF THE YOBS

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On the face of it, being squirted with a water pistol may not be the most horrific attack one could suffer.

But for 39-year-old mother Jenny Voyce, being targeted by a car full of leering yobs and soaked to the skin, was a truly upsetting incident.

Three men in a car dowsed her with a powerful water pistol as she was putting her children into the car.

It must have been an incredible shock to be targeted in such a way.

She was so incensed that she gave chase and eventually caught up with the men.

Quite rightly she wanted to remonstrate with them and find out why they had hit her.

Mrs Voyce should be proud of her actions on that day.

Not everyone would have stood up to such thuggish behaviour.

To make matters worse Mrs Voyce says the police officer who attended didn't take the situation seriously enough.

"Obviously these days we, the poor unsuspecting public, are expected to take whatever is thrown at us on the chin," she said.

That is a fair assessment of the way many people are feeling in today's society, which is sadly lacking in respect.

It seems that the rise of the yob is still going strong.

There appear to be gangs of hooded youths in every car park in the county at night - and few show even the slightest bit of respect for others.

The national news has been filled lately with terrifying stories of gang killings and it may only be a matter of time before we see the same here in Gloucester-shire.

It may seem like a big leap to go from squirting a water pistol to gang killings, but it all amounts to the same thing - a total lack of respect.

It is a theme we return to in this column again and again and there appears to be a deafening silence from the authorities over how we are going to tackle it.

While we wait for some solid action to tackle the rise of the yob, we as parents need to ensure our children are not among the baying crowd.

Respect is taught within the home and within the school - it's about time we start tackling this anti-social behaviour before it tackles us.