beauty spots, staycation, staycationers, littering, bad behavior, illegal camping, security, gwynedd, snowdonia, snowdonia national park

Do our welsh beauty spots need security?

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Wales, it’s a small country but it has its fair share of beauty spots. With the natural beauty spots such as the Pembrokeshire coast, Gower Peninsula, and Brecon Beacons National Park drawing tens of thousands of visitors each year.

However, in March of this year, many of them closed themselves off from the public following the Coronavirus pandemic and welsh government and national lockdown rules. Now Wales has relaxed lockdown rules, many of our coast’s, paths and nationals’ parks have once again re-opened and welcomed tourists back with open arms.

But welcoming tourists back with open arms hasn’t been smooth sailing for some especially for Snowdonia National park. Since the relaxation of the lockdown rules the National Park has experienced high levels of littering, bad behaviour and illegal camping and has resorted to them employing security to monitor activity and prevent the tension between tourists and locals rising further over the bank holiday weekend.

Illegal camping, Beauty spots, Security, Security Services

And this isn’t the only case of ‘Staycationers’ littering and illegally camping in beauty spots. Balmoral estate in Scotland and the Lake District have also been hit – with balmoral seeing increasing numbers of camping equipment and even human waste being left behind and the Lake District cleaning up mountains of litter.

To curb the number of tourists littering and illegally camping within the Snowdonia National Park, Gwynedd Council have employed a security firm to patrol areas within Snowdonia national park (Parc Padarn Country Park in Llanberis and beaches including Morfa Bychan and Abersoch). The security firm has been commissioned to conduct patrols out of normal operating hours, ensuring that visitors to the area, respect the rules in place.

But are our beauty spots soon to be patrolled by security guards?

Gwynedd Council has been the only local authority to announce that they are employing security over the bank holiday to ensure that tourist’s within the area remain responsible and no further damage is being caused. However, with other beauty spots such as the Queen’s Balmoral Estate and the Lake District coming under increasing ‘attack’ from irresponsible tourists, seeing security patrolling and enforcing rules could become the norm.

What do you think? Will we be seeing more security in our beauty spots?

For more information about our mobile patrol services and how we can keep your beauty spots safe from irresponsible tourists visit our website or give us a call on 01656 713950.

Event Security, Event Security Services, A&R Security Services, COVID-19, Welsh Government, Small Events, Pilot Scheme

Event Security: Are you ready to welcome spectators back?

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2020 was to be the year for big events, with Glastonbury celebrating its 50th anniversary, Qatar holding the FIFA world cup and Japan holding the 2020 Olympic games. However, with the rise of the Coronavirus pandemic and the fear of the virus rapidly spreading, events across Wales, the UK and the globe were put on hold or cancelled altogether.

But there was a small light at the end of the tunnel for both sporting and art event organisers. At the beginning of August 2020, the UK opened its first socially distanced venue (the Virgin Money Unity Arena) which played two sold-out shows on the grounds of Gosforth Park, with 2,500 seats spaced out on 500 viewing platforms. However, due to the recent localised spikes in Coronavirus – organisers put a stop to any further events like these.

Now the Welsh and UK governments are looking to kick start small sporting and art events that would allow only a 100 spectators in. The Welsh government said that this would be a ‘Two-pronged approach’ with these small-scale events depending on the success of England’s pilot event schemes and the state of COVID-19.

But even with these small pilot scheme events succeeding and larger events such as the Guinness Pro-14 and the Six Nations getting the green light to welcome larger crowds of spectators, there is still the logistics surrounding public safety and minimising the spread of COVID-19.

Although limiting the number of spectators to such large events will help in towards minimising the risks of localised spikes, there is still the risk of those limited numbers not following guidelines that will be put into place to ensure their safety.

We at A&R Security services understand that it will take time for larger events such as the Six Nations, Olympic games and even Glastonbury festival to return but in the meantime, we can provide effective event security solutions to ensure that the public remains safe and your event runs without a hitch.

So to ensure that spectators are kept safe our manned guards can provide effective crowd control by:

  • Conducting Temperature checks
  • Ensure social distancing is adhered to at all times
  • Ensure that only those with masks or face coverings are allowed to enter
  • Good hand hygiene is maintained
  • Track and trace information is obtained.
  • Bag searches

Alongside our manned guards providing crowd control at the entrance of your event, we can provide effective mobile patrols. Our mobile guards can conduct on foot patrols around your venue space, ensuring spectators are following social distancing rules, there are no unauthorised personal or suspicious objects in restricted areas, and they can quickly respond to any emergencies.

And it’s not just large events that we can provide security for, we can provide tailored and effective security solutions for smaller events too. To learn more about our event security take a look at our website for further details or to arrange a free no-obligation meeting call us on 01656 713950.

 

Retail worker, violent and abusive behavior, COVID-19, Coronavirus, Pandemic, Lockdown

COVID-19: Is violence against retail workers getting worse?

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When we think about those working through the pandemic, many think about the NHS staff, police force, fire, and ambulance services. But there are one group of key workers who have been vital in keeping Wales and the rest of the UK going and that are retail workers.

However, since the start of the lockdown in March, there has been increasing reports of retail workers receiving violent and abusive behaviour from customers. In response to this increase in violent behaviour, one supermarket chain Co-op announced that they were going to supply frontline staff who worked at 250 stores with body cameras.

The issue surrounding retail workers becoming victims of violent and abusive behaviour is one that has been around for years. But has the recent COVID-19 pandemic caused this sort of behaviour to increase? And is there anything being done to help protect retail workers?

In a recent article from ITV Wales, it mentioned that violent and abusive behaviour more than doubled during the pandemic, with the USDAW (a union representing welsh shop workers) calling for a law to protect retail workers from such behaviour.

Many retail workers who worked at supermarkets and other retailers felt anxious returning to work in fear that they would either be spat at, coughed or sneezed in response to them asking for customers to socially distance – as well as being pushed and verbally abused when enforcing buying limits on in-demand goods or being unable to issue returns on goods.

The USDAW conducted a survey and found that 1 in 6 shop workers were being abused on every shift and well over half (62%) of 5,000 workers surveyed said they experienced verbal abuse since the start of the pandemic. Whilst a third had been threatened by a customer and 4% had been assaulted.

One retail worker who took part in the USDAW survey said “I had never cried in work until the first week of the lockdown. I received constant abuse from nearly every customer during one shift when the rules were changed so that we couldn’t accept returns. I finally broke when one woman refused to leave the store and insulted me and berated me for not doing the return.

“The following day a man was very aggressive towards me for the same reason and I could visibly see him twitching in a way that suggested he was about to become violent. My job has become emotionally draining and it is really starting to affect my mental health.”

When averaged across the entire retail sector of 3 million workers, it showed that 3,500 workers were assaulted every day over a 34day period.

So what action is being taken to ensure the safety of retail workers?

The government has set out plans to crack down on the violent and abusive behaviour the retailers face on a daily basis. This included working alongside the National Retail Crime Steering Group (NRCSG) on best-practise guide to help support shop workers report acts of violent and abusive behaviour, strengthening and making full use of existing laws, and improving data sharing between businesses and the police.

However, there is opposition out there who think that the government’s plans aren’t enough to protect retail staff effectively. The BRC and Association of stores have both criticised the home office for not seeking to introduce specific and harsher offences to those attacking shop workers. ACS’s CEO said, ‘Warm words and working groups aren’t enough; we need tougher penalties for attacks on shopworkers and more police resources to stamp out violence”.

If your retail staff have been a victim of abusive and violent behaviour before and during the pandemic, then speak to us about our effective retail security solutions. Our manned guards hold full SIA licenses and are fully trained to act accordingly to protect your retail staff from abusive and violent customers. To learn more about how we can help take a look at our website here or get in touch with us on 01656 713950.