Madam,

I have been very concerned about the number of “homeless” people begging in Terrace Road, Aberystwyth lately, which seem to be increasing. It is mostly near Barclays Bank and the doorway of WHSmith, particularly late at night and into the early hours.

Some are not the usual “homeless” types but drunken men who are becoming bolder and more aggressive as each week passes.

I was accompanied by a “mature” local lady, at 11.30pm on Monday, last week and she was very worried and anxious by the behaviour of two large men coming towards us on the same side of the street after we left the White Horse pub, in Terrace Road. who were clearly drunk, cheeky, and in an ugly mood. Had anything inappropriate happened it would have been natural for me to protect her.

I had a heart attack just over a week ago and was hospitalised for 24 hours at Bronglais Hospital. If I encounter a confrontation with people in this kind of situation it could potentially become a very serious situation for me which could put my health at risk. I am often unavoidably in the town centre and Terrace Road.

A couple of hours ago, just before midnight, I went to draw some cash from the ATM at Barclays Bank, on the corner of Great Darkgate Street and Terrace Road, and saw a man was sitting on a bench near the ATM, drinking from a can and he was looking at me. Then he slid off the bench onto the pavement as if he had collapsed and began to vomit. I put him in a recovery position and some other people stopped to assist me.

I am a former police officer and as such am legally qualified to judge a person to be drunk, which he was. However, I also took the view that he was becoming comatose which can be fatal if alcohol poisoning is taking place. I decided to call an ambulance.

My mobile phone wasn’t working so I went to the unmanned police station and made a direct call to Police HQ in Carmarthen. By the time I returned to the scene at Terrace Road, there was indeed an ambulance in attendance, but no police presence whatsoever.

I have already raised my concerns with the police in the form of an official complaint to the chief constable about the lack of police patrols in the town centre, especially at night.

I saw a community safety officer at the car park at the railway station recently and asked him when the police were likely to do something about the beggars I had just passed in Terrace Road. He replied that nothing is done because members of the public will not make a statement about it. I offered to make a statement but I have since heard nothing about it.

It appears to me that the authorities are abandoning their responsibilities almost to the point of criminal neglect.

Yours etc,

Robert Morris, Primrose Hill, Llanbadarn Fawr.

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