Allegations have been made that Rough sleepers in Manchester are being assaulted by security men working for NCP car parks across the City Centre.

Nick Buckley who is running as an Independent candidate in next month’s local elections as the candidate for the Homeless in the Deansgate ward has said that a number of incidents have come to light over the past couple of months.

They have included a NCP staff member assaulting a rough sleeper by slapping him across the face several times to wake him up and then punch him in the face while a second man trying to intervene confronted the NCP staff and both were dragged down the stairs and thrown out.

Another incident saw NCP staff intentionally drive their van at a rough sleeper and hit him resulting in damage to his hand and arm.

Other incidents have seen staff punching a rough sleeper in the ribs, having his crutches confiscated and then being assaulted with them.

The rough sleepers feel that these assaults are intentional and are part of a strategy to stop them from entering the car parks.

We asked NCP for a comment and their head of Operations in Manchester Sean Fenney said:

We take all allegations regarding our staff conduct extremely seriously.  However we are frustrated by this situation as we are unable to properly investigate these cases on the basis of the lack of information provided.It is, therefore, extremely disappointing to read this report, which makes strong unsubstantiated accusations about our staff without providing the necessary information which would allow us to investigate.

He added:

Our local staff are often on the forefront of the increasing problems related to rough sleepers on the streets of Manchester and we work closely with a number of key agencies including Manchester city council, the Police, Cityco and other charities in the city to help address this. Our team are facing daily difficulties and physical threats and assaults when they try to carry out their jobs to ensure our car parks are safe working sites.

Commenting on the reports, Nick Buckley said that the response of NCP to the allegations was not good enough for a large national company, and left him feeling that any investigation would be a white wash.

He added that no one is stating that the allegations are true, what we want is a full impartial investigation:

” I may not be a City Centre Councillor yet, but when vulnerable individuals inform you that they are being assaulted it is everyone’s responsibility to act and protect the vulnerable. I do not know if these allegations are true, that is not my role. My role is to make sure the police and NCP know and investigate accordingly. Dismissing concerns because the complainant is complex is exactly what led to thousands of working class girls being abused over decades in full sight of authorities. This doesn’t happen on my watch!”

 

4 COMMENTS

  1. Absolute joke! The only people who are violent are the homeless and druggies on the car parks. Many times I have seen the attendents surrounded and abused by them and they have not once used raised their voices aggressively let alone used violence. Why don’t you try walking into a car park and feel intimidated when you have to walk past several of them shooting up in their groins or aggressively harassing you for money. This story is absolute rubbish as you’ve clearly switched the roles around to make NCP look like the bad guys! They need a pay rise not abuse from idiots who don’t know any of the facts and clearly haven’t even bothered to see the real story of the disgrace they are making our city into.

  2. What kind of journalism is this? It is stated that Mr Buckley does not believe the allegations are true yet they are published here as fact. I reguarly use a NCP in the city centre and although it has a large number of homeless people on it each day i have never seen the staff be anything other than patient and understanding, despite a torrent of abuse and threats of violence. Most of the time it is one NCP employee dealing with multiple vagrants. Like all wild animals drug users and the homeless seem to always humt in packs.Is the case not more likely that the homeless and drug users are merely looking for sympathy off a soft target like Mr Buckley and so will spin any old tale.

  3. Hi. Ur missing the point of the article. The point is that NCP are not taking the allegations seriously and therefore if true, vulnerable people are being abused illegally. That’s the point.
    I never said the allegations were not true, I said it wasn’t my job to investigate and to decide.
    Everyone deserves to be protected in our society, even drug addicted homeless people and of course NCP staff.

  4. I use ncp everyday and I have witnessed ncp asking the homeless to move on.
    They are polite and treat the homeless with respect.
    It’s the guys from ncp who receive abuse and threats but they keep calm and are professional about it.

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