Hanslow

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4539405.stm

Personally I haven't got a problem with it. I have a hooded top, but never put the hood up. Wonder if I'll be accosted for wearing it with the hood down?

What's next on the ban list?

OllyK

Seems typical to me, rather than tackle the root cause of the problem, i.e. gangs wandering about intimidating people, pick on something that is not going to have much of an effect and will possible have a knock on effect on other people.

Dream Weaver

Strange country we live in

Agree with Olly, why start banning items of clothing, why not get to the real root of why there are gangs of teenagers mugging people? Probably cos they can see which way this country is going so dont have much hope for the future.

Brendan Hughes

"Mr Prescott said hoods were part of an "intimidating" uniform and said he had nearly fallen foul of "happy slapping", where attacks on passers-by are filmed. "

Not to be confused with "happy punching", where attacks on bystanders are filmed, eh John?

Dream Weaver

PMSL, true

Bubba po

It's because they are the modern-day equivalent of the stocking mask.

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

It's a good idea.

The use of hooded tops and baseball caps by criminals is purely to help prevent personal identification by witnesses, police and CCTV. Almost every reported thefts/muggings I have read of locally involves the criminals wearing hoods and baseball caps.

Similary - the rule that are used by most banks which don't allow bikers to wear helmets already exists for the same reason.

Obviously, if there were police on the streets and they responded to "non-serious" calls then they wouldn't need to rely so heavily on CCTV footage or witnesses for identification

Bubba po

As I recall, the Fat, two-Jagged **** was defending himself against an assault... an activity championed by many a user on this forum.

OllyK

But it's like banning stockings because bank robbers use them. It's going to pi$$ of a lot of women who can no not wear stockings.

Plenty of people wear hooded tops / coats with hoods etc. and yet manage to stop themselves from mugging people. I have no doubt the people involved will find some other way of disguising themseleves - scarf for example, while the rest of the law abiding public get inconvenienced yet again because the shopping centre won't put security guards on the doors and have sufficient number patrolling to act as a deterrant.

Brendan Hughes

The Tories and the judiciary would never let that one onto the statute book

Dream Weaver

But it also means I cant shop at Bluewater if I decide to wear a baseball cap to stop my skinhead burning, so it alienates another group in society.

Vegescoob

So that's my HELLA baseball cap under threat then?

ChrisB

Never mind them, think how upset Telboy would be

Jap2Scrap

If you wear it back-to-front maybe

Brendan Hughes

Yeah, he was my first thought, but I got him already last week, so I went for the "feasibility" aspect instead

fatherpierre

You could always simply remove it???

Your head won't burn in Bluewater as it's covered.

The sad thing is where I work 90%+ of all street crime is carried out by yoofs either on foot or on bikes, with their hoods up and with the ubiquitous baseball cap.

Jap2Scrap

Wouldn't it be better to just ban under 18's from the shopping centre

astraboy

I agree and disagree on this one.

On the one hand walking through Brixton at night, as I often do to get to a rave and you are confronted by lots of scary looking people, all of whom start conversation with you along the lines of "You want any *Insert stimulant of choice here*?" All of them, bar none are wearing hoodies. All of them. Why? cos there are cameras all over the place but they still want to ply their trade so they wear their hoodies up to conceal their features.

From that perspective, banning them is a good idea.

But.

Once I left a rave at the EQ in Hackney, with no money and no way to get home at 2am.
So I walked. I walked from Hackney to The City going down the A11 mostly, which took me through Stratford, Bow, Stepney and Whitechapel.
Going through there on foot at 2am is a sobering experience, especially when you consider the people I encountered.
How did I get back to The City?
I put my hoody up and looked like I knew where I was going.
Although it might have been in my mind, I got the feeling while I was walking back that I wouldnt have been as "Avoided" as I was, if I didnt have my hoody up.
astraboy.

Tiggs

yo lot are missing the point...

this has NOTHING to do with muggings (so forget the goverment should do more crap) and NOTHING to do with a culture of banning....its about a business making more money.

Who spends more in the shops? the chav ***** hanging round in a little gang or mum and dad out for a new TV????

will chav ***** still hang around if mum and dad stop shopping...yes

will mum and dad come more if chab ***** arent there...yes.......so get rid of the chavs.....how best to do that? ban what they wear and how they behave.

If you think for a second that they would kick you out for wearing a baseball cap while shopping with your wife and kids then you need to get a hooded top and hang around with others with the same IQ!

fatherpierre

Thanks for pointing out our missing of the point

Personally I don't mind this form of attire as it makes my job a little easier

ALi-B

iTrader: (1)

Awww diddums, get some SPF30


Since when did they replace the lighting with tubes out of a sunbed?

FrenchBoy

I must be getting old as this sounds like a good idea to me.

I dont think they're proposing to ban hooded tops per se, more stopping the little ******* from wandering around with their hoods up.

Jap2Scrap

Fashion Police then?

Vegescoob

Whilst taking your point and appreciating this is private property, they might have to ask all to remove baseball caps otherwise some smart lawyer might be able to sue on behalf of the chavs on some sort of "rights" basis.
Or am I too cynical?

OllyK

If it's about the yobs (and I hope it is) why not just ban them (the problem) rather than banning the clothes they currently tend to wear and possibly other "innocents" in the process.

How long do you think it will be before they swap the baseball cap and hoodie for a scarf and fedora. Same result in terms of identity concealing, but bypassed the ban. Focus on the bloody problem - the yobs, not what they wear.

Dream Weaver

Why should I? Its a nightmare rubbing SPF anything into your head. If its hot and I'm going to be outside for a while (Bluewater does have an outside cafe area) I like to wear a cap to stop me getting sunstroke.

I can see the reasoning behind it, but as i've said before when we start banning things (and getting gov't backing) we're on a slippery slope. If they want to stop chavs shopping, then why not ban any sort of performance car from their carpark as well

Tiggs

errrr....how?

have a bloke on the door saying "you're a yob...you're not a yob"????

just ban anyone arriving at the car park in an old scoob?

anyone called Wayne?

They have sat down and described the sort they dont want......hoods, caps, aggresive attitude, causing disturbance, etc and drawn up a code to address all of those issues.

Its the same as the police...they can ban Scoobs as such but they can ban speeding, big exhausts and black windows thus solving their problem!

Brendan Hughes

...And film it