A ‘RUNNING fight’ broke out between a group of teenagers in Bournemouth’s Lower Gardens on Saturday night as thousands of people enjoyed the weekend’s hot weather.

Echo Camera Club Dorset member Les Brown captured images of a “lowlife” urinating into the sea and discarded litter on Bournemouth beach before spotting the fight as he walked into the town.

Mr Brown, who first arrived at the beach at around 8.45pm, said: “I took a few pictures from the pier – there were still quite a few people on the beach.As I was shooting pictures, I heard some sort of row and someone calling someone else ‘dirty’.

“I turned around and I saw a young dad who was there with his daughter. She was maybe two. They were standing near a man who was urinating into the sea.

“He was obviously drunk or stoned – there were lots of people with children still about and he just didn’t seem aware of any of them. He was totally blank.”

Mr Brown then photographed discarded litter, including beer bottles, crisp bags and Tupperware containers, before walking through the Lower Gardens towards Bournemouth town centre. He took more pictures of dumped alcohol bottles and even a cool box on his walk.

“As I got towards the Pavilion, I saw a big crowd of kids aged between about 14 and 18,” he said.

“They were all shouting and having a go at each other. You could see there were adults trying to calm them down and tell them they were ruining everyone’s day, but they wouldn’t stop.”

“They were really going at each other.”

As Mr Brown waited for his bus, he saw a brawl break out between a group of teenagers.

“A lot of kids came charging up – I’m not sure if they were part of the same group involved in the row earlier,” he said.

“One was punched and he went down before another three or four jumped on top. Another one had a folding stool which looked like it had probably been dumped and it was being used to hit someone.”

He said teens in the “running fight” were kicking and punching each other. “I didn’t see any police officer during the hour and a half or so I was there,” he said.

“Two holidaymakers here with their families told me they’d never come here again.”

Officers from Dorset Police run initiative Op Fireglow in Bournemouth Gardens during school holidays.

In 2017, police were called to 477 incidents in the gardens. By October 2018, there were 32 reports of incidents.

  • Clarification: An earlier version of this story quoted Mr Brown as saying he didn't see any town rangers during his visit. Town rangers cover the town centre and the Lower Gardens, but not the seafront. They finish work at 6pm.