Neighbourhood watch stickers branded a fire hazard by council

Thurrock Council has taken health and safety to the extreme by banning neighbourhood watch stickers. A resident living in council flats in Cam Green, South Ockendon, put up the small neighbourhood watch stickers in the window and on the front door of the communal flat entrance in the hope of discouraging crime and anti social behaviour. However, he was shocked to find that the council kept removing them, because it considers them a “fire hazard”.

Kevin Coombes, 48, said: ”I put the stickers up because we get a lot of crime and graffiti around here, but they were taken down. I put more up but these were taken down by the caretaker as well, so I called the council to find out why. I was told that the stickers were against health and safety regulations because they were a fire hazard.”



He added: “These are small polythene stickers, they aren’t a fire hazard, its just bizarre behaviour by Thurrock Council. I phoned up Grays fire station and spoke to someone there too, and they agreed that the stickers weren’t dangerous. I went back to the council and told them this, then they started saying that the stickers weren’t allowed because they may encourage other people to stick things up, it’s just ridiculous.”

A spokesman for Thurrock Council said: “We currently do not have a policy in place on stickers/notices in communal areas, but there is a general presumption against stickers in communal areas due to fire hazards. We are looking at placing fire resistant notice boards in communal areas in the near future for such notices/stickers. Mr Coombes is at liberty to place the sticker in his own window and the council is happy to meet with Mr Coombes to discuss this face to face. In the meantime we suggest Mr Coombes contacts the Neighbourhood Watch officer at Grays Police Station.”