Window cleaner 'not so glued up' on gates

31/03/2009

A window cleaner has been punished after he glued up the locks of alley gates, it has emerged.

James Norman fell from climbing one of the gates and so began his campaign against them on his Rock Ferry and Tranmere patch.

The gates were installed in a Wirral borough council attempt to deal with vandalism, anti-social behaviour and drug dealing, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Mr Norman was given a two-year conditional discharge.

Judge Bruce MacMillan said that Mr Norman could have borrowed a key instead of having to go to the lengths he did.

"Instead of that you glued up the locks on various gates that the local authority went to considerable trouble and expense to install at the request of local residents," he commented.

Last month, Liverpool city council revealed a University of Huddersfield study showed that 99 percent of residents were in favour of the alley gates scheme in the city.