A COUPLE in their 60s who were enjoying a night out in Dunfermline were set upon by a gang of teenagers in an unprovoked attack.
The violent incident near the Tesco Fire Station car park, which left a man "bruised and with a black eye", was raised directly with Chief Inspector Kathryn Fairfield at a Fife Council meeting on Tuesday.
Councillor Aude Boubaker-Calder said the couple, who did not want to be named, reported it to the police and also contacted her.
At the City of Dunfermline area committee during a discussion on police performance she said: "What frightens me is an older couple, who had a lovely evening in the city, being attacked by a gang of youngsters with their hoodies up.
"The man suffered from bruising and a black eye. It happened next to Tesco in the city centre so what's to be done, is there collaboration with Tesco on this?"
The Lib Dem councillor, who represents Dunfermline Central, added: "One of the things the constituent mentioned was the choice of language from the officer at the police station.
"They said 'Do you want to report it?'. That's not right. It has to be reported for the statistics.
"When they're coming to the police, they want to highlight the issues and a report is really important for us to have a real perspective on what's going on in the city centre."
The incident happened on Friday May 26 and Cllr Boubaker-Calder told the Press: "The couple said they'd had a really good night, they'd had a drink with friends and dropped someone off at the taxi rank before a group of teenagers attacked them without any provocation.
"It's a couple in their 60s. That's just not acceptable and something we don't want to happen in the city centre.
"I know it's difficult for the police to tackle it as it's random and you don't know where trouble is going to happen but we need to mobilise all our services and make sure our streets are safe at night."
At the meeting Ch Insp Fairfield and Inspector Neil McGurk said they were unaware of the details of the attack.
Insp McGurk said they regularly engage with Tesco as we know they "have very significant problems, being the largest shop in the city centre".
Ch Insp Fairfield added that if there was "clumsy phrasing", when the couple went to report the incident, "I can only apologise if that's not come across well."
At the committee meeting, Cllr Boubaker-Calder said Dunfermline Bus Station was another hot-spot where they "have to close it in the middle of the afternoon" because of youngsters causing trouble.
She said: "The bus station should be open, fully, all the time until it's the right time for it to close. That's really important as well."
Insp McGurk said: "The bus station, historically, has always been a place that, from time to time, we've had anti-social behaviour issues.
"Because of the locality and Dunfermline being served by four high schools covering the whole of West Fife, it's a meeting point for youngsters.
"We also have free travel for under-23s so it's very easy for groups of youngsters to come into the city and meet at the bus station.
"I have monthly meetings with Dunfermline Bus Station.
"I know there have been instances where some of the staff have taken it upon themselves to shut the doors, however I know from speaking with the bus station management there's an education programme going on.
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"To be fair to the youngsters, they may be leery and loud but unless their committing a crime or anti-social behaviour, we don't have the powers to move them on and there has to be some kind of tolerance.
"We've been doing regular drop-ins. We do look at it. Although there have been sporadic incidents it's very much down from a number of years ago when we were having real problems."
He said the bus station and community safety partners had helped fund private security to patrol at busy times, such as Hallowe'en, Christmas and school holidays, and added that CCTV cameras were also being upgraded.
After the meeting Cllr Boubaker-Calder said: "I know the inspector said there has to be some tolerance of noise, I understand that, but when you have to close the bus station to contain those people it's not acceptable.
"We want a thriving night-time economy and a city centre where people can go out at night and have a drink without being bothered or attacked."
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