Seryna – 'Stay Safe in the City'

I had been out for night to Club X and I started to walk home about 4.00am. Instead of taking my usual route up Newport Road, I walked along Broadway because it’s a short cut. I was half way along it, when two people came up and asked me for 40p. I said ‘no’ and carried on but they came back and before I knew it, they had pushed me over and I hit my chin badly on the ground. They took my bank card and my keys and about £15 that I had left over from the night and then they just ran off. They had tried to take my I Pod and earphones but I hung on to them. I was going to ring the police, but I was too worried they might still be around, so I walked up onto Newport Road and then I called them. I’d gone out with my friend Jess and a big group of people. I managed to lose Jess and as most people had gone home, I got a bit bored. I was going to take a taxi, but then I thought ‘No, I’ll walk’. As I said, normally I walk up Newport Road because there are always cars going past, there’s loads of CCTV and all the road is heavily lit. Also I knew buses started up around 4am and I was thinking I might wait for one at a bus-stop if I saw any passing by. Then when I got to Broadway, I though ‘this is a shortcut’. Not a good idea I know, but I’d been walking home from town for three years without any trouble. Also it was very cold and I was a bit drunk, so I thought ‘it’s going to be much quicker’. I’d never walked that way before but Broadway is quite well lit and has some CCTV, so it seemed quite safe. I just wanted to be home. Immediately after it happened, I felt really upset and scared that if they heard me ring the police they would come back, I was being pretty paranoid I guess. Also I had no credit on my phone to ring someone to come and pick me up. Afterwards I just felt really angry, because I walk home all the time and nothing had ever happened, I felt robbed of my confidence. It definitely changed my attitude; I will not be walking home on my own again, not in the dark anyway. It really annoys me that it’s me that has to change the way I want to live, for the sake of people who are doing something wrong. I didn’t think that the effects of it all would last long. The same day when I woke up in the morning I thought ‘Oh, I’ll get over it, I wasn’t badly hurt, I’ll be fine’. But when my boyfriend was out last night, I felt very nervous of being on my own in the house. I started to get paranoid that the house was going to get broken into or something. It made me realise that it can happen to anyone, you don’t have to live in a rough area to have things happen like that. I’m generally a little more on edge, a little more anxious than I was before. I feel strongly that you should be able to do whatever you want to do, but you have to be realistic about it, you could end up losing all your valuables or being really badly injured. What I would now say to others is never put yourself in a situation where you have to walk home alone. If you absolutely have to, make sure you keep enough money on you to take a bus. If you have to walk in an isolated area, to deter muggers, keep credit on your phone so you can talk to someone and let them know where you are and what’s happening. You should also tell someone what time you expect to be home, and try to stick to it. But at the end of the day, just avoid being alone in the dark and walk with friends, because there’s always someone out there who’ll take advantage of any opportunity he gets to rob you. Finally remember, when you’ve had a drink, you are a lot more vulnerable than when you are sober.