A BUSINESS owner has thanked a group of teenagers for alerting police after he forgot to lock the front door of his hair salon, leaving it ajar.

Dennis Ali, owner of Stone Hairdressing, left work on Sunday evening thinking he had securely locked his Broadwater Crescent salon in Marymead, Stevenage.

But at about 1am on Monday, friends Jamie Barker, Shaun Dower and Kyle Blizzard-Welch were on their way home when they noticed the front door of the salon slightly ajar.

Jamie, 18, said: “We noticed the door open a little bit. Just to check, we went up to the door and pushed it further open. As soon as we realised it was open we called the police. We stayed there until they arrived and made sure everything was alright.

“Young people these days get a lot of flack for getting up to no good. This just shows we are not all bad and there are some of us who do care about where we live and don’t want to be branded as bad people.”

In February, the Comet reported that Herts Police and Stevenage Borough Council had joined forces to tackle the situation of anti-social behaviour after gangs were gathering in the shopping precinct, intimidating people and affecting trade.

At the time, one shop owner called the situation “a nightmare”, claiming youths climbed on scaffolding and banged on shop windows.

Mr Ali, who has owned the salon for 25 years, said: “I am so thankful the boys were there. A lot of kids around here get a bad name for being anti-social, but it just goes to show these boys are not like that. I was really surprised when I heard what the boys had done, I am so proud of them.”

Mr Ali said he would give all of the boys, who are from the Marymead area, a free haircut.