Muggings in South Rd / Trilby Rd / Cibber Rd area [2017]

Passed on by a local resident who wished to remain anonymous:

This will be reported officially to the police.

Heard of one in colfe road last night too - mugging! Be vigilant

What do the 3 guys look like?

This is quite close to where I live and, thus, very worrying. I have never liked that small passageway between Sunderland Road and Shipman Road and would not feel safe going through there on my own in the dark. However, it now seems that being with someone else isn’t even safe. This passageway seems to attract crime. In my 18 months or so in the neighbourhood, there have been quite a few incidents that have happened in this passageway reported on this site and others. Has it always been like this or is this something that is a recent development?

Oh no this is terrible. My sons starts nursery at Little Fingerprints in Spring and was planning on walking through this alley around 6 each eve. Is it safe when dark even if early evening?

It seems that these mindless morons just sprung up in different areas for a while before moving in elsewhere. We had a spate of muggings down Grierson Road a few years ago until they got caught.
I would definitely avoid alleyways especially as the days get darker quicker. It’s just a case of being vigilant isn’t it & keeping your phone etc in your bag as much as possible.

Yep they normally spring up in an area, do maximum damage, the one police officer on duty for the whole borough turns up a couple weeks later and they move on to the next spot.

I’ve walked through that path at least twice a day for the last 9 years. My wife had something not so nice happen there a few years ago. I have never once seen a police officer in the vacinity. I understand about resourcing etc, but the only 2 times I’ve seen police out and about in the last 6 months have been at the Hornman and Mayow Park fun events’.

Oh no that’s awful. Maybe I don’t go that way back home the a buggy then ️

I’m a big bloke from Belfast and I tend to stick to the South Circular on the way home after dark at this time of the year and avoid that cut-through.

Without wishing to get into a debate about whether it should be the case that every corner of every street is safe 24/7 (it should be, but it isn’t), the streetwise / risk-averse approach I’ve taken (since a friend was mugged there two years ago around 9pm) is to go the long way around.

I live about 5 minutes walk away and a firework was thrown at our window around that time on Tuesday night, smashed it and terrified my cat. Reported to police too but not seen yet.

I use the alleyway noted above on a daily basis and at all times. Again - not a small bloke.

The worst thing is if people stop using it. Visibility is generally good until you get to the kink where the garden fence juts out.

That said I wouldn’t walk down it with headphones on!

Very true. Is there something that could be done? Speak to Police about better lighting and CCTV perhaps?

These same three men also robbed and brutally beat someone on their doorstep on Como Road after shooting a firework at them on the night of Oct 31.

Not sure if this should be in a different thread but, sadly, last night (the 9th) there was another incident.

Around 9:30pm, a guy ran towards Kemble Road from Cibber Road yelling for help. Two young males caught up and beat him until he handed his phone. Police arrived relatively quickly after several neighbours called but they had already fled back towards Cibber Road.

Apparently he was walking his dog when he saw these guys trying to break in a house. He was whacked in the head but seemed fine. One of the robbers seemed to have what seemed like a metallic crutch—that he used to whack the guy. It was too dark to recognise the 2 guys from our window.

Stay vigilant!

And again this evening.

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This is a really disturbing pattern of events. I’m so sorry to hear what’s happened. More targeted action required to surveil these roads and catch this gang. There may be things that residents can do to help.

Paging @SgtBiddle

Indeed. I appreciate local police resources are strained but this needs to be a priority. I did notice the Police tweeted that they had patrolled the area last week but the tweet implied that they had done so in the middle of the day?! It seems that these incidents are occuring after dark.

I was robbed in Mugging Alley (shipman end) in 2012. I posted details in the current fb thread on this topic. https://m.facebook.com/groups/428465083996329?view=permalink&id=872579906251509

They need to patrol in the evening and put cctv up

I just saw them on Trilby road, 3 blokes, One black man with a partial mask riding a large mountain bike with large rectangle reflectors on the wheels. Didn’t see the rest clearly.

Hi there, I was the guy who got mugged and attacked on Kemble on Wednesday night at 9.10. Pretty sure they were definitely looking to burgle a house on Cibber which is where I first saw them loitering and where they unfortunately saw me.

The guy with the limp is a light-skinned black male; 5’ 10, 18-20, skinny, black jeans, hoodie, neck scarf, apparently seen the next day in Forest Hill high street by a cashpoint asking for cash, then walking up Dartmouth Road. The other male is white around 18-20, 5’ 10, dark hoodie, dark jeans and equally skinny.

It’s normally such a safe area and having been here over 20 years, have walked these streets, including the Sunderland Rd alley, hundreds of times at night, barely passing anyone. So let’s try and get these idiots off our streets ASAP.

Lewisham CID are taking this mugging extremely seriously and therefore think they should be informed about associated incidents as it sounds like they’re linked to same group of stupid knuckle-scrapers.

Let’s try and get this nipped in the bud ASAP.

Detective Constable Jay Gasson
Lewisham Criminal Investigation Department
Phone: 02087214892 | Internal: 74892
Email: Jay.Gasson@met.pnn.police.uk

Looks like my hunch about my muggers casing the house in Cibber Road was correct.

Have just walked past and the porch now has cardboard covering up a missing pane of glass. They were obviously after the trainers they could see and I interrupted them.

It also heavily suggests they’re locals and still very much active in the area.

Just part and parcel of living in a big city.

But seriously just hand over your stuff. Don’t engage these people. Especially the young ones. They have nothing to lose (going to Juvenile / prison is a badge of honour and where they get their proper criminal training). All it takes is one unlucky punch or being struck in the wrong place with God knows what and it’s game over.

I think a lot of home / contents insurance include valuables lost outside the home too. So if you have to hand over a phone or a wallet then you may be able to claim it back. It’s only money anyway.

My husband was mugged at about 6 one evening in October three years ago walking through Ladywell Fields (rookie mistake which we’ve not repeated). I rang our banks and insurance co from A&E having been taken there by the really kind guy from Lewisham police. All were cancelled etc and our insurers (Ecclesiastical) covered everything - we had a cheque in three days. Unfortunately, despite CCTV picking up images in Catford MacDonalds and a convenience shop where they had used his contactless debit cards about half an hour after the mugging, the guys who had done it (two of them with a baseball bat) remain uncaught for this offence. It is an unfortunate part of life in a very big city but the insurance company, NHS staff and police were all great. Hope you get past this, it made us seriously reconsider being in London for a while, and on balance I am glad we have stayed (and continue to enjoy the parks in daylight hours!)

So I jog through the alley twice a day, almost every day and I don’t want to stop because of these events. It’s all well and good sharing stories and talking about it but does anyone know what exactly is going to be done about it? Off the top of my head, there are CCTV cameras which I think would be good but I can’t see the local authorities actioning this. Ideally, a bunch of blokes needs to catch them and put all 3 in crutches.

Jokingly I thought this will limit movements between our houses. But realistically I’ll probably take the alternate route to my GPs or when walking to B&Q.

Interesting that a crutch is mentioned, about 3 years ago there was a spate of burglaries off of Taymount rise, I saw 3 young guys walking into the close who I didn’t recognise glancing around and looking generally a bit edgy-one of them had a crutch, My neighbour came out having seen them too and being mindful of the daytime spate of robberies we’d been having.
The 3 youths then became confrontational and aggressive towards us for staring at them-but eventually left.
I later heard that they had been breaking into houses using the crutch to smash windows and locks, although I must confess my first instinct was 'oh they’re harmless-one of them is limping with a crutch.
I wonder if its the same trio having been let out of detention for their past misdemeanours and up to their old tricks?

CCTV is useless if they are wearing hoodies or masks. I think if someone has a hoodie on its basically unusable.

If there’s enough CCTV to connect the dots, we may discover where they live.

Living in an Orwellian dystopia does have its upsides.

I agree with Chris here. Although CCTV cannot physically stop crime, it does provide a safer feel to the area but most importantly it can be used to trace and potentially identify the individuals

except I heard that a lot of councils don’t even turn the cctv cameras on as they can’t afford to monitor and maintain them.
I read this somewhere.

Shared on behalf of Sgt Jon Biddle:

Keep on the case Sgt Biddle. Its good to hear from you and your colleagues on forums such as this. I hope you have the resources to help us.

Hi all,

I’ve just managed to get back onto the forum.

I’ll try to update you with any developments.

Please email PC Bailey or PC Pearce on the emails above with any further info.

My team are out over the next few days and I’ve asked for further resources. I’ll be visiting the scene today and have emailed Lewisham Council rector poor lighting and potential CCTV.

Sgt Biddle

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Out and about patrolling the footpath between Shipman Rd & Sunderland Rd.

#SgtBiddle

Good to see, Sgt Biddle and great to hear of the proactive steps being taken by the force regarding this.

Great news. I live on Como road and having never felt remotely unsafe in 2 years that has changed significantly recently. Just last night there were two guys driving up and down the shipman road/Sunderland road path on mopeds. Clearly an issue for any pedestrians but more so for those with young children/pushchairs. Thanks for the support.

Hi James, about what time would that have been?

Can we make sure that all anti-social behaviour in the vicinity is reported directly to the police via Richard.Bailey@Met.Police.uk (not just on this forum).

We have lots more than one for the whole borough. However you are right that there often seems that there are never enough.

My three wards (Perry Vale, Forest Hill and Crofton Park) consist of two Dedicated Ward Officer PCs and 1 PCSO - so 6 DWO PCs and 3 PCSOs. We can’t be here all the time but there are always officers on duty covering the whole borough 24/7. If you need help we will come.

SgtBiddle

I understand your frustration. However we have to consider a few things before starting an investigation. Firstly, were there any witnesses? Secondly, any CCTV of the suspects and thirdly any forensic opportunities.
Most crimes can be reported on line and a decision is made as to whether it is further investigated.
I believe the Commissioner spoke about this realistic approach recently on TV.

SgtBiddle

Still saw lots of people walking with phones out and headphones in… please get the message out - be sensible and be aware of your surroundings…

SgtBiddle

6.45 yesterday evening.

My main anxiety about this whole spate of muggings is that the culprits if not caught more onto another area nearby.
I lived in Notting Hill for many years and this was certainly the case there.
I am always mindful not to wander around oblivious on my phone however when I did get mugged in my old neighbourhood in broad daylight at 4pm 3 guys just walked past then one of them ran at me from behind grabbing the strap of my bag dragging me to the ground and along the road until i let go.
Sometimes against a group of youths no matter how aware we are a lone woman or man does not strand a chance-especially if the muggers are driving mopeds.
Unfortunately we desperately need more street policing wether this is on foot or drive round patrols.
obviously street lighting is a huge issue- but again both these things boil down to money.

Just to be clear, based on when you posted this and your pic earlier in the thread, are you saying that people shouldn’t be carrying or using their phones while walking in a residential street in broad daylight?

Not at all. I’m saying be aware of your surroundings.

The responsibility for robberies is with the criminal not the victim.

But we can all be more vigilant and take precautions to prevent crime.
SgtBiddle

I agree.
More patrols are a good thing but I have limited resources.

It’s about us all working together to prevent crime.

SgtBiddle

I with you on that!

I thought I’d caught one of them yesterday.

I was driving over the hill at Perry Vale and I noticed a hoodie going down the postman’s trolley, which was parked-up outside the Prince of Wales pub. So I stopped my van in the middle of the road (sorry about that) and jumped out shouting WHAT THE FLIPPING HELL ARE YOU DOING! (may have actually sworn in there somewhere). So the hoodie looked up and said, “Can I help you?” at which point I saw the red collar of his Post Office shirt. So I had to apologise and explain that I thought I was apprehending one of the skanky gang who’d been causing all this aggravation in the area. Must admit, I did feel a bit stupid - but a little “thank you” from the postman helped me get over the embarrassment.

No offense but daytime patrols do nothing. This happens at night and we need patrols at night. Period.

The quality of CCTV images against masked youths in poor lightning will do nothing except give you a video of you being chased out of the CCTV’s view.

Hi Dave, thought I would answer your email question here as it’s topical.

You ask, ‘did I think I was mugged because I was carrying a phone?’

Difficult to say. It felt to me like it was going to be a warning off beating rather than mugging as I had spotted them acting suspiciously near a house, hence why I flatly refused to stop when they asked me to. Plus, when they finally did corner me and demanded something, it was for a wallet rather than phone. Having said that, when I first walked past them, they would no doubt have seen the tell tale headphones (yup, guilty…) that do rather broadcast the fact there’s a phone on you.

Carrying and using a phone on the go is now a given, it’s more how careful we are with them which is clearly the issue Sgt. Biddle raises. However, if you’re someone who fits these idiots’ mugging profile and have valuables demanded from you with violence, it doesn’t matter where you keep them, they will never be safe enough.

Thanks everyone for sharing experiences here. It’s obviously so important for us all to be vigilant and aware of our surroundings, particularly after dark. But I just wanted to add something a bit more positive on here - I have walked through this alley twice a day everyday for two years, many many times after dark and have never felt uncomfortable at all. I’ve never seen anyone loitering there and have actually commented on this to people before. As alleyways go it’s quite wide, the bushes are small and it is lit (although obviously the lighting can always be improved).

This is not to undermine the horrible experiences people have been through at all. I just don’t want people to feel disproportionately scared of this particular alleyway and let it put them off living or walking through our area. Muggings are an awful occurance and can happen anywhere.

Just walked back tonight via cut through into Shipman / Trilby Road. Never seen it so quiet. So sad as fear has clearly taken control. You can’t even walk via S Circular as muggings have occurred on Colfe.

Not necessarily, Raul. As a few of us have said that regularly use it, that alleyway has always been very quiet. But wouldn’t be at all surprised if people have decided to give the roads around here a wide berth after a certain time at night until we begin to hear some positive news from the police regarding the spate of robberies.

The other thing about being on the phone or having headphones in, beyond the signal of having something worth mugging for, is what an easy target we might look - not hearing or paying attention to what’s going on around us.
I do this more often than I should, get all the way home and realise I’ve not got a clue what my journey was like, buried deep in a text or something.
It’s easy to do in cars too, casually listening to the radio on autopilot - we all hear that the most common accidents are on frequently driven routes.
I agree of course that the criminal is the one in the wrong, but just keeping an ear and eyes out to what’s happening around us is good advice.
The bonus is we might also appreciate our general surroundings more - stopping to smell the roses, by which I mean spotting funny shops names or random cats that we can post here…j

My team have been out and I checked overnight crimes this morning. No further robberies reported.

We’re not taking our eye off the ball…
Z
SgtBiddle

Morning #PerryVale.

Just checked the overnight reported crimes.

No robberies reported!

#OpPosterBoy

#SgtBiddle.

Dear Perry Vale,

As I promised I’ve now spoken via email to the head of CCTV at the Council.

I’m told that they have looked at placing CCTV here in the past but there is nowhere to install a camera.

We will continue to patrol both in plain clothes and in uniform.

Please keep us updated with any developments that we miss.

SgtBiddle

Thanks for asking. Did they give any details as ‘nowhere to install it’ just sounds like a bit of a vague answer tbh?

I’m afraid not.

I looked at lighting too and the lights are fairly new.

Do you think the trees and bushes being cut back might help?

Can I suggest you contact the council/your councillor re any suggestion you might have? We work in partnership with them and value their support in this.

SgtBiddle

That’s frustrating. A CCTV camera at the Sunderland Road entrance looking down the alley surely shouldn’t be that difficult to install? High up on the side wall of the flats would be ideal, giving good coverage of the majority of the alleyway. Anyway, very happy to contact both as you suggest.

Re the bushes and trees, I was speaking to someone this week who wanted them cut back, and if it will help create extra visibility, especially at the Shipman end, then yes, let’s get it done.

CCTV can be installed on it’s own pole… doesn’t need to be put on a wall… and there’s plenty of space to put a pole up.

I find this a little hard to believe. I can think of plenty of places plus the ones mentioned above. Are we sure this doesn’t mean that there’s nowhere to install a camera WITHIN the alley? Surely one placed just outside looking down into it, or even on the bend of Trilby and Shipman will surely show who’s coming in and out of the Alley?

Hi,

I made enquiries with the council and spoke to their head of CCTV. I was told that they had looked before and that there is nowhere suitable there.

Can I suggest you raise this with the council and or your local councillors if you feel there is?

SgtBiddle

Thanks, I will do. Would you be kind enough to pass on all the contact details?

@Mr_Robin_Banks All the councillor details are available here:

http://councilmeetings.lewisham.gov.uk/mgMemberIndex.aspx?FN=WARD&VW=LIST&PIC=0

Update: I contacted all three Perry Vale councillors today re alleyway CCTV and impressively they all immediately responded with assurances of looking into the conversation that Sgt Biddle had with the head of CCTV at the council.

Cllr John Paschoud also mentioned that he had raised the issue of the robberies with the council’s Head of Community Safety on 16th November, and said he copied his response to my email into Cllr Janet Daby, who has political responsibility for this on the Mayor’s cabinet.

It’s definitely a start.

Good work Mac!
Thank you.

Good work, @Mac_SE23

From our Twitter account yesterday - we are out patrolling the area inc the walkway.

#PCGillian #PCRichard and #PCMick are on patrol around Trilby Road

SgtBiddle

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Just heard from my neighbour on Como Road that they had the sizeable padlock on their side gate cut-off with bolt cutters on Tuesday night. The house wasn’t broken into - it could be whoever it was heard my dog going nuts, which she did at one point that night, and decided to leave.

Might well be the same guys, so worth being extra vigilant re window and door locks etc. at this time and especially in the run up to Christmas.

Dear all,

I’ve now got a meeting with our local Lewisham Council Crime Reduction manager on Wednesday at noon. I’ll be visiting the alleyway with her to discuss what can be done re CCTV.

SgtBiddle

Please can you email details to PC Bailey on his email? (See one of my posts above).

SgtBiddle

Yes, will do. I did tell my neighbour he should do so when anything like this happens.

And good to see the PSCOs out and about this morning doing door to door re the recent burglaries.

Overnight reported crime update for #PerryVale ward:

Zero robberies
&
zero burglaries reported!

Great news!

#SgtBiddle

@MPSPerryVale

@SgtBiddle Unfair reporting stats! We all know the naughty boys are in church on Sunday

Yeah - FAKE NOOZE!

Doesn’t seem I can win then… some residents like the overnight crime reports crimes that are reported to us - others think it’s fake news or unfair!

What’s the general consensus?

By the way the stats will still be obtainable on the Met WebSite and @MPSPerryVale.

@Londondrz is just yanking your chain, ignore him!

@SgtBiddle Very much tongue in cheek. Ask Michael what I am like. When he rolls his eyes and smiles you will have some idea.

Keep up the news and the good work.

Lol!! Thanks!

Serious question though… do you think it’s useful to know the stats.

It won’t be every day but will try as much as possible…

Personally speaking, yes. I think for a lot of people they may not see police every day but the fact you are reporting on stuff and putting up photos of you out and about it great.

Having worked with manufacturing and construction companies I was never comfortable with prominent signs/announcements such

36 days without an accident

I was never sure whether it was a celebration of success or relief that the inevitable hadn’t happened yet.

Its how I could feel about these daily pronouncements.

46 days since our last burglary

You’ve won with me!
I appreciate you coming on here to give people the reassurance of knowing that you’re at least trying. You guys must be saints to commit yourselves the way you do to policing London streets.
With gratitude and warm regards,
John

I’ve visited Shipman Road again today with PCSO Andrea & two council officers.
We hope to get the overhanging bushes and trees cut back and are looking at temporary CCTV to be positioned ASAP.

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Needs permanent cctv on that alley. I was mugged there around 6 years ago. All efforts appreciated though. Know very well that you do an amazing job with very little budget!

Great to see such positive action by all concerned. Is it also possible to do the same in the alleyway from forest hill station to sydenham bridge alongside the railway line as there have also been similar past problems there of muggings etc and we would all feel safer. Thanks.

Good to hear, but ‘temporary’?

That had occurred to me, but I assumed that it would probably be infinitely quicker to get a temporary camera up and running than a permanent one. I’m guessing that a long-winded application could be put in place whilst the temp solution is at least offering some deterrent/protection/peace-of-mind?

Please can we get an update on this temporary soution?

Dear all,
I’m afraid i don’t have an update yet. As soon as I do I will post it.

On a positive note we’ve not had any robberies for a while now.

One burglary overnight in Round Hill. Keys were dropped by the victim and entry gained later. Cash taken.

Without wishing to state the obvious, please look after your house keys!

SgtBiddle

Would it be worth maybe changing the title of this topic to something like “local crime updates”?

I think it’s worth maintaining the focus of this topic on the roads mentioned in the topic title.

General updates from @SgtBiddle are always welcome, and are probably best made in a separate topic called “local crime updates” or similar, if the updates don’t relate directly to the roads covered in this topic.

Please see my most recent post!

You say - I do!

SgtBiddle

Thanks for the update and good to know. I was contacted by the police just before Christmas re CCTV of my mugging and told that if either of these two are seen, to call 999 immediately.

You do not need a crime number or to call 101, just call 999 and say that you’ve seen a suspect, or suspects, involved in violent robberies.

Thanks for the warning! Going through there in 10 mins. Any update on the temporary cctv? Apologies if I’ve missed this in an earlier post.

So scary they are still about. My neighbour was one of those who they attempted to mug. @SgtBiddle is there anything else that can be done in these other roads to try and catch them. As a fairly fit and active 30 year old this scares me so can’t imagine how more vulnerable feel… what’s the process to try and catch repeat offenders like this given your limited resources? Can you apply for extra funding to help? Guessing not! ️

Also saw them walking Shipman road yesterday with a trolly and in the middle of the road

Had no doubt been getting shopping for the local elderly.

Seriously though, shouldn’t be too difficult for them to be picked off by the police if they’re being this visible.

Dear all… of you see these suspects please call 999. Please give a description and a direction they are walking. Please try to quote your crime ref number if you know it (will help when they are stopped).

We await the council re CCTV. I’ll updatr you ASAP.

SgtBiddle

The crime number is 8498/8Nov17 for my robbery, so feel free to quote that when calling 999.

Hello there,

I hope it’s fine posting this here. Apologies if I am in the wrong place.
Me and my partner are in the process of buying a house around Vestris Road and we are a bit worried having discovered all these events. When walking through the little path, without knowing anything about the attacks, I felt it wasn’t a place to walk alone. I am a young woman and I also find the streets around Vestris Road very dark in the evening. Would you say that the situation has improved? Would you consider those streets a safe place where to live?

Thank you very much for your help!

I walk through the alleyway around 7.45 and 18.00 each day to do the nursery run and have never had a problem. Lots of people doing the same. I do sometimes think about the muggings but I think during commuting hours it seems safe.

My neighbour was one of the people mugged and he was walking through later at night. So my advice would be, like anywhere in London, don’t go through quiet dark alleys late at night.

Unfortunately over our time living in London a number of my friends have been mugged in Balham, Clapham, North London etc so think you just need your wits about you and to be sensible wherever you live.

Hope this reassures you.

Hi,

I’ve walked through there almost every day for almost 7 years at all times of day and night and never felt unsafe. As @Pea says it can happen anywhere- this feels the safest place I’ve lived in London.

Hello @Pea and @LeeHC and thank you for your kind answers! I am moving from Bermondsey and I don’t really know the Perry Vale/ Forest Hill area. The house is on the actual Vestris Road and it does also seems that burglaries are the norm in the area, especially around Vestris Road, am I right? It seems that every week someone break inside houses even if there are alarms! I admit I wasn’t expecting all these burglaries and the attacks! I wonder if it is just a case of them being signaled on here, while I might not read all the news about where I live now and maybe it’s just the average number of crimes for London. Or, if it is an area where there are actually a bit more crimes than the usual occurrence. I have been looking for a long time, we have had our offer accepted and we are instructing the surveyors. I just would like to feel at peace because moving it is a really big thing, we are starting from scratch and I would like to feel at home there. I can see from this forum that there is a nice community there, which it is something we never experienced here and I would be happy about. I guess I would just like be reassured that you would still move there, even after all these burglaries and attacks. Thank you so much for your time!

Again, I think sadly it’s a sign of the times. My friends from all over London and elsewhere have similar issues.

I’ve been chatting about this with my friend and we’ve come to the conclusion you feel like there is more in your area because you get to know about it.

When I lived in Balham before I was oblivious to it.

You can check local crime stats and last time I looked Forest Hill was below average (just).

If you want to compare the level of historic crime for any place you are looking at then this is a great site.

https://www.police.uk/

Worthwhile comparing this to where you are now. For instance, Bermondsey had four times the reported crimes in November 2018 over SE23. Though of course there can be hotspots in any particular area.

@anon5422159. Given the original post is 14 months old could it be time to call time on the yellow triangle and note the historic element?

Yes, good call. I’ve tweaked the title.

I’d encourage all trust-level-3 members to edit titles that are out-dated, inaccurate or misspelt. You should be able to do this on any topic on the forum, including other peoples’. Thanks

Thank you. I thought of that but personally feel the OP should be encouraged, especially one still on the forum. So I wasn’t asking you in a moderator capacity. Happy to help out otherwise.

Hi @araki - just wanted to reassure you as I think it’s easy for these forums and the awareness of such incidents to skew one’s perspective.

I’ve lived on Como since 1995 and must have walked that alleyway and surrounding roads thousands of times, and also at the most random times of both day and night, alone and walking dogs, and in all those years it has typically been 99.9% problem (and people) free. It was only in November last year that the area was unfortunately targeted for a three week spell before whoever was behind them moved on. So I would say below average in terms of London crime statistics.

But look beyond that period and am pretty sure you’ll only ever see the occasional house/car/shed break-ins, nothing more sinister. As far as London roads go I would most definitely class them as on the quiet/safe/family side with a lot of good people living here. I do agree that the street lighting is desperately dim which doesn’t help, but that seems to be the norm wherever you go now on side streets.

Hope that helps settle the nerves and please feel free to contact me if you would like more info.

I walk down the alleyway at all times of the day and night also and have never had any problems. They have cut down some shrubs there so its a bit more open. Personally there is enough space (if you choose the right line), visibility and footfall that I think I could make a bit of nuisance of myself to someone trying anything on. The alley along with the surrounding street seem to be used more frequently over the last couple of years which is a good thing.

Hello @Mac_SE23 and @Luke30 and thank you very much for your messages. I really appreciate them since I am in desperate need of reassurance and I am thinking of walking away from the deal.

We’ve come back yesterday evening, and I tried to work my way around possible alternative routes from the station. The only way seems taking the South Circular and Kemble Road if I have to come back alone in the evening. Since Vestris Road it is so internal among Kemble Road and Normaton Street it feels probably more isolate. From the bus stop (Forest Hill fire station) is around 7/8 minutes of walk and the streets are really dark! I am a minute girl and I just don’t know if I would feel safe to do that walk on my own. But, if I may ask, nobody has ever complained about the street lighting? There’s no way to improve the situation? For people that live close to the main road it seems fine, but for those three streets (Trilby, Vestris, Farren) it is a long way in the dark, especially if you are a girl walking on your own in winter. I was also thinking if there’s no way to set a Neighbourhood Watch Network in the area? Maybe it would help?

Also, since I just noticed there’s been a burglar on Trilby Road last week, does it help at all having alarms and cameras? I always lived in flats, and probably having a house it’s a bit different in term of security!

I really like the house, and I thank you very much for your answers! Thank you so much for your kindness @Mac_SE23 , I am new on the forum and It would be great to speak with someone that lives there!

My pleasure @araki - I’d be very happy to try and further allay any fears you might have. Why not stop by for a tea and chat? That way you can also hear from my youngest, she’s also minute and regularly walks the streets to and from the station on her way to college and back.

It would be a shame for you to walk away from what might be a great deal on the basis of a short term issue that was some time ago now. I’ve lived on Como road for 4 years now and like others who’ve commented, have walked down the alley way at all times of day without issue. My gf is also fairly petit and has never had an issue or felt unsafe coming through that route. It’s your decision clearly, but in my view you have nothing to worry about.

I think it is v much a matter of everything happening local being reported here. Previous areas I have lived in within London didn’t have the same local communication. Probably just as much happened if not more but I wasn’t aware. At same time time this forum has been used for people to connect and lobby for improvements/or discuss best solution.

Thanks to everyone who has replied! Thank you for your time! I am relieved in reading your messages. I guess it is just a matter of trying to get used to the dark streets. I appreciate your words and I will come back again this weekend to walk again through the alley, since I only took the South Circular or Perry Vale to arrive at Vestris Road. @Mac_SE23 thank you so much, that would be very nice! I’ll write you in private to see if you’re around this weekend for a chat! I have to say, it does seem a very nice community from what I read here, and I never experienced this before in London Thank you!

Just thought I would put in my pennysworth for what it’s worth! We lived in the then fairly newly built flats down Ilderton Road (New Cross/Bermondsey) in the 80s, & although ok at that time, the corridors of the flats were very dark, which could make you feel unsafe. After we moved in the mid 80s on going back to visit a friend, there were gated entrances everywhere even including the bin room because of burglaries & drug activities, so as been said before all areas go through their time of crime so to speak. I’ve no idea what it is like around there now as I haven’t been back for years, but I can’t say I would find Bermondsey any safer than round Forest Hill.

I am a small middle aged woman who moved here from west london 8 years ago.
I often finish work at 10pm which means walking home from the station around 11pm
i agree the streets are very dark compared to where I lived before but i always keep my wits about me walking home, don’t talk on the phone and have keys to hand.
same as when I lived in busy west london.
someone i know lives in knightsbridge and got mugged at 7pm on her way home the other night.
crime is everywhere in london to be honest and i think here is safer than many areas