Friday 19 June 2009

The Partybus

The past few weeks have been very quiet on the site with nothing of particular note to report. As the season starts to build, albeit very slowly, the troublemakers start to make their way to the surface. Normally they're pretty easy to spot, just by walking past and listening. There are also a few who escape under the radar, until it's very late at night. Last night was no exception, the group who were going to cause trouble made their presence known from very early in the night.

As I walked around the site at the start of my shift, in the pouring rain, I made a note of where all the tents were, so I didn't unnecessarily soak myself to the skin by wasting time later in the night walking round an empty field. There didn't appear to be any obvious troublemakers on the site, which is always a good thing. I managed to lock up all the amenities buildings and close the gates, before heading back around the site again. I had just left the gates when I heard a minibus pull up, so I went down to the corner nearest the gate, where I can see what's happening, but those at the gate can't see me. Luckily, they parked up and walked in reasonably quietly, apart from two of them. The two who stayed at the minibus pottered around for a while, before heading in to bed. A few moments later, a threesome of bikers pulled up at the gate and turned their engines off. I walked out to ensure that they weren't planning on leaving the bikes directly in front of the gate, they weren't. I spoke to one of the group who asked if they could push the bikes in, sans engines. I told them that they could, although I did feel sorry for the owner of the faster-looking bike, as his appeared to be twice as heavy as the others. With the bikers safely tucked up in their bed, I made my way around the park. As I came out of one of the fields, I noticed a group running from the toilets carrying something large and shiny. I couldn't make out what it was, so I followed them. Unfortunately, by the time I'd walked round, they were in their tents and silent.

Fortunately, the rain had subsided enough for a group of young guys to dig out the disposable barbeque and light it. I walked over to make sure that they were quiet and not going to hack down a sapling and sacrifice it over their disposable barbeque. As I was talking to the group, who were very talkative, I heard a loud noise from a nearby tent, shortly followed by lots of swearing. They quietened down before I could get to them, so I didn't bother giving them a warning. I walked away from the group, just as their barbeque was dying down enough for them to cook their dinner on it and the rain started again.

As I was walking towards the field where most of the trouble is, a male approached me and asked the usual, "Do you work here?" I answered with the affirmative and he told me that he was having trouble sleeping, due to "a large group of youths" who were throwing a party in a minibus. I knew immediately who the group was and where their minibus was, so I told the gentleman that by the time he had crawled back into his sleeping bag, I would have taken care of it. As soon as I entered the field, I could hear the sound of a TV being played very loudly inside a minibus. As it was getting on for midnight, I walked straight over to the 'bus and slapped the palm of my hand against the drivers door several times, the door opened and a drunken "youth" attempted to focus on me. I warned them quite severely that if the TV wasn't turned off, then they would be leaving, due to the fact I had several complaints about the excessive levels of noise coming from them. Thankfully, the passenger was slightly more sober and assured me that they would turn it down, which he did. The door closed and I walked off, only to walk approximately six feet away, for the TV to be turned back on again. This time, I felt I had to be more direct. They were told to turn the TV off and head to bed; again they reluctantly agreed and closed the door. I stood at the rear of the 'bus, so that if they happened to look in their mirrors, they'd notice I wasn't going anywhere. When I heard the doors opening and "youths" heading towards the nearby tents, I walked around the field to ensure that they were going to bed and they would be quiet. Which, thankfully, they were. Although I did receive several complaints about them in the morning, but they were happy that I had intervened at an early stage and they had managed to get a decent night's sleep.

Later, as I was checking the amenities buildings, I noticed a small plastic tag on the floor of one building; I recognised it as being the security tag for the fire extinguisher which, when I looked towards the rather empty looking hook on the wall, was missing. I then recalled noticing a group running off from the building carrying something large and silver. The missing fire extinguisher. I checked the remaining amenities buildings and then walked over to the direction of the tents that I had previously heard the strange noise from earlier in the evening, as I was walking towards the tents, I noticed the fire extinguisher abandoned in the middle of another group of tents. Luckily I was in the field at the time, so I knew which tents had discharged it. I made a note of their number and found the corresponding vehicle in the car park.

As the end of the shift rolled around, I met the manager and told him what had happened during the night. After having me confirm which tent had set off the fire extinguisher, we piled into his car and drove around there. Given the fact that they had discharged it quite early in the morning, they wouldn't have got much sleep before the manager went over and gave them a rude awakening. I've often wondered what goes on when he says "Don't worry, I've had a word with them." or "They got an early morning call from me." Now I know and it's not good, the nearby tents, which were all just getting up had heard the disturbance and had gone outside their tents to watch. Of course, the group denied it and weren't too happy that they were given fifteen minutes to pack up and leave. However, after they had packed up, one of the group came in to apologise for what he'd done and duly left the site.

4 comments:

James (UK) said...

You know... in a kind-of "let the punishment fit the crime" type of justice, I would like to have removed all the fire extinguishers from the site, and then set their car/van/tent on fire.

As they would rush out and say "Where's the fire extinguishers?!" you'd say, "Because of an idiot like you, there aren't any. Sorry."

Same goes for the idiots who throw the life rings into the Chelmer in Chelmsford Town Centre; I'd push them into deep water weighed down with bricks in their pockets, then when their family frantically look for the rings, tell them the same thing; "Another idiot like him threw them in the river yesterday night on his way home from the pub, and they've been washed away down stream. Sorry"

Night Warden said...

Oh how I'd love to do that, James. But unfortunately the bods at H&S would frown upon that sort of behaviour!

cogidubnus said...

A more direct (but noisy) solution would be to plunge the empty extinguisher through their windscreen and see how they liked those potatoes...Charles Bronson eat your heart out!

An old sage said...

Dear Night Warden, a heartfelt plea...I've waited all winter for your wondrous tales and yet this year you've hardly posted? From all of your readers, please please please write some more. I'm certain that you've more stories to tell but suspect that you think no one reads your blog or finds your stories interesting? Well I do and as a Farm Shop Manager I may well start my own blog recounting the daft things I encounter everyday when people come to buy fruit & vegetables! And as a seasoned camper myself with a wife and two young children, I admire the way in which you seek to make camping a happy experience for all of us and not for our holiday to be spoilt by stupid, selfish prats. Sorry it's a long rant but I felt it had to be said! If there are any lurkers out there, please leave a comment too, to encourage our writer to leave more stories. Thanks for keeping us entertained!