Petrol threat terror in JobCentre

Aug 14 2007 by Sam Beattie, Evening Gazette

EYE-WITNESSES have described how a busy town centre office became a scene of panic after a man doused himself in petrol and threatened to set himself on fire.

A major alert was sounded after the man poured petrol from a canister over himself inside the JobCentre Plus office in central Middlesbrough.

Fire, police – including armed officers – and ambulance crews raced to the scene at about 1pm yesterday.

Witnesses described how the 27-year-old man threatened to harm himself as police tried to persuade him to leave the building.

Witness Graeme Brown was in the JobCentre when the drama broke out.

The 22-year-old, from the Longlands area of Middlesbrough, said he saw the man douse himself in what he believed to be petrol.

He said: “I was in the queue waiting for a meeting when one of the staff came running over telling everyone to get out of the building.

“Everyone around me started running, but I looked back and saw this lad pouring petrol on himself from a big cannister.

“The woman who got everyone out knew what she was doing and did a good job getting people out. There was a lot of panic, no one knew what was going to happen.”

Valerie Mollon of North Ormesby, who also witnessed the incident said “He came in with a green petrol can in his hand.

“He said ‘I want my ******* money’ and then he just started pouring it over himself.

“I was scared. Everyone was scared and ran out.”

The building in Corporation Road was sealed off and the man was locked inside.

An estimated 150 members of staff were evacuated.

Police, including mounted officers, fire and ambulance crews were all at the scene and onlookers reported seeing police sniffer dogs.

The drama lasted about 30 minutes before the man was taken into police custody.

A JobCentre Plus spokesman said: “A man walked into the JobCentre Plus office in James Cook House and doused himself with petrol. He is a JobCentre Plus customer, but why he chose to do this I can’t say.

“Staff were still left outside because we could not immediately let them back in because there was petrol all over the floor. Forensic officers also had to investigate.”

A Cleveland Police spokeswoman said: “A man was threatening to self-harm. There was no direct threat to staff or other clients and the building was vacated in minutes while police and other emergency services attended.”

She added that the man was locked in a public part of the Jobcentre and had no access to other parts of the building.

A man has been charged with criminal damage with intent to endanger life and was due before Teesside magistrates today.
Source

And this is why I wasn’t able to sign on yesterday.

Yeah.

Thankfully, I wasn’t there at the time (I wasn’t due to sign on until 2:10). But I realised something was up when the building was closed and there were a couple of cop cars outside.

As much as I can’t understand doing something like this, I can understand the desperation. The job center in Middlesbrough are extremely difficult to get money out of. For example: recently I applied for a community care grant for the deposit on the place I’m in just now. As you can imagine, I was in a bit of a hurry to get a response. After hearing nothing for a couple of days, I phoned to find out what was happening. I was then informed that it would take up to three weeks to get a decision. And no, they would not speed up my case under any circumstances.

The first time I signed on down here, it took five weeks to process my claim. And then it only happened because I went into the place, pointed out that I was going home for Christmas and New Year soon and it would be nice to have some money for the trip. (In all fairness the people I spoke with then were stunned it had taken that long as well.)

So, the guy has been charged. And rightly so. But I also hope that the DWP will look into the underlying problems that lead the guy to think that this was the best way to do things.

Will

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