Petition to revoke Stevenage homeless man’s banning order is signed by more than 300 people

Chris Fitchford reguarly looks after people's dogs while the go into shops at The Oval. Here he is looking after Bob Ballard's dog Bessie. (Image: Archant)

Since June Chris Fitchford has been banned from entering The Oval shopping centre because of the anti-social behaviour he caused there.

But the 58-year-old claims this isn’t the case and said: “I’ve got good relationships here with everyone. I used to help older people with their shopping bags and hold their dogs when they went into the shops.

“If I had done something wrong I could understand, but I just used to sit on the bench quietly.”

Chris is a self-confessed alcoholic and drinks between eight and 10 cans of strong larger a day.

Both his parents were alcoholics and he began drinking at the age of two, only stopping for four months when he went to prison last year.

He admits to having a long criminal record but says, apart from the incident last year, that he hasn’t been in trouble for 15 years and has never caused any problems at The Oval.

Many people, including shopkeepers, support this claim and think that Stevenage Borough Council should overturn the community protection notice.

Noor Rehman works at The Oval Wines and has signed the petition. He said: “He is not a problem. He used to just sit outside and chat to people.”

Kevin McClintock, who is allowing Chris to sleep at his house, agrees.

He said: “I think it ridiculous that this has been imposed.

“It hasn’t gone to court and he hasn’t broken any law.

“It’s been imposed because someone suspects he’s causing a problem when there’s no actual proof of that.”

Chris has already been fined once for breaching the two-year order and admits to still visiting the centre.

He says The Oval has the nearest chemists, which he needs to use for his medication.

His drinking means that he throws up blood regularly and needs regular drugs to reduce the effects of alcohol.

Community protection notices were introduced in October last year and are part of a new law which replaced anti-social behaviour orders.

Councillor Sherma Batson, who is responsible for safer communities at the borough council, said: “The aim of these notices is to prevent a small number of people behaving in a manner that was causing distress to local residents and shopkeepers and having a negative impact on the quality of life of people living in the area.

“Since these notices were issued anti-social behaviour at The Oval has reduced and there are no plans to review any of them.”