Skate park idiots
Tuesday 20th September 2011, 3:00PM BST.
In the larger of the two images taken from YouTube, the youngster jumps across the gap onto the roof of a passing lorry
YOUNGSTERS have been putting their lives and others at risk by trying to jump onto the top of moving vehicles from fencing around the skate park in town.
The children’s actions – which have been filmed and posted on the internet – have been branded ‘stupid’ and ‘disgusting’ by older members of Jersey’s skateboarding community who spent years campaigning to have the facility built.
In a recent internet posting, one youth can be seen jumping onto a moving lorry from a ten-foot fence at the Harbour skate park. The ‘stunt’ was filmed by an onlooker and uploaded to the video-sharing site YouTube, where it was given the title ‘Jersey Skate Park Idiots’.
The Harbour’s commercial manager, Myra Shacklady, refused to comment on the matter and her secretary said it was a matter for Education, Sport and Culture, who set up and own the skate park.
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Nice bit of publicity, I might check it out on youtube.
On a serious note though, very silly!
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Just watched the video, I can’t see how they are endangering anyone but themselves, natural selection let em do it. Perhaps put a paper thin roof on the lorry and put a couple of lions inside, that would be an interesting video.
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What idiot put a kids skate park in the middle of a busy commercial harbour?
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So what should States do ?
I would expect a proposal of putting speed limit for passing by lorries, backed up with speed camera, to make sure new youngster’s sport is safe. This proposal for sure would be welcomed and backed up be certain St. Clement’s deputy
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LOL More Proof that ALL Skaters are Idiots.
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I’m just waiting for someone to suggest we bring back National Service…!
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Now they would not do this un witnessed….and while it is probably not the smartest way to kill yourself…young men will always push the limits of safety for …excitement…and attention seeking…so now that the J.E.P has surpassed this young mans ambition by getting on the front page…what will be going through the minds of his peers who may want to top that performance…how dangerous might they go or even survive … so who is the one in control here…who is displaying how things work in real life and who is acting with wisdom…?
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Bah. Think there are more important issues to be worried about – young lads always do daft things.
I remember being towed on my bicycle at over 40mph by my friend’s motorbike when I was about 15. I wince at the thought of it now, but at the time it seemed like a good idea…
No harm done. Clip the lad around the back of the head for taking a silly risk, and move on.
However, 349 views when I first saw the JEP this afternoon, and there are nearly 400 now. Sticking this on the front page will surely cause more copycat ‘daredevil’ stunts. Just like the planking ‘warning’ a few weeks back.
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I suggest we bring back National Service!!
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Seriously ? You really thought it was a good idea to give this video exposure ?
I saw this report and watched the video earlier. I just checked it again and the view count has risen and even more alarming is the ‘like’ votes has also risen !
Well done JEP. Talk about being irresponsible !
Now some other hapless teen will risk his life to gain the same fame and glory you just handed to this kid. And in my opinion, you, the JEP, will NOT be beyond blame !
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I think Dep Fox pushed for this skate park to be placed in the middle of a busy commercial port. Any novice could tell from the outset it was the wrong place. Never mind massive expense to us taxpayers to relocater it no doubt
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What idiot thought it was a good idea to have a childs play area in a busy freight area in the first place? I have never understood the logic in that. Perhaps the person jumping on top of the passing lorry is a relative of whoever made that decision.
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Wait till they grow up….. then they will be too busy managing trust funds to skate.
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Well to be honest, fair play. Jersey has given nothing for teenagers to do. We are bored beyond belief!! Were just trying to find new ways of amusing ourselves, like with planking but nooo you go and ban that too! Give us something to do if your complaining about everything else!!!!!
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skaters go to the skatepark to skate!!this idiot wasn’t a skater but then those people who want rid of the skatepark and want to condemn kids just for the sake of it would rather not hear the truth, to sum up- ‘small minds……’
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Now let me see, a simple question….
Skateboarders + HGV’s =’s …????….
I’m amazed that no one has been injured yet.
And of course the person (Minister) who ‘placed’ the little darlings down on a busy commercial area will explain why.
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Maybe we’ll get proof for natural selection.
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don’t know if anyone has thought of this but why don’t we bring back national service?
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Bring back national service!!
And well said Zoro……the media including the JEP, bury their heads in the sand and look the other way when it comes to who is to blame and responsibility!!!
They take the stance……oh well its our job to report………..yes with rsponsibility and factually, both of which are missing in abundance in todays media.
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This is a great example of over exaggeration… First of all, it’s just one youngster, not youngsterS. This was a one off incident with just one idiot jumping off the fence – don’t make it look like this happens regularly.
Chris (the boy jumping onto the lorry) is neither a skater nor a biker, he’s just a random kid who happened to be at the skate park that day. Don’t judge hundreds of kids who come to the skatepark every day and use it properly based upon one idiot with a stupid idea.
Here’s a thought though – if he did this off a school fence would people consider closing the school down? It’d be a great shame to lose something that as the article rightly states the older members of the skateboarding and BMXing society have been campaigning for for a number of years.
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ha ha ha national service ? ,health and safety wouldn’t allow that.
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14 Open Your Eyes –
open your eyes!
Posted September 20, 2011 at 6:52 pm
Well to be honest, fair play. Jersey has given nothing for teenagers to do. We are bored beyond belief!! Were just trying to find new ways of amusing ourselves, like with planking but nooo you go and ban that too! Give us something to do if your complaining about everything else!!!!!
Yeh I really feel for ya sonny, Playstation/X Box/computers not enough for ya. Try making your own entertainment like we did, hide & seek, football, cricket, no 24/7 TV for us. Our parents knew where we were and what we were doing, we were in before dark and in bed before 9pm as teenagers. You don’t know you’re born, you expect everything to be provided for you and even when it is you complain – boy are you in for a surprise when you grow up.
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I hope the police were called and the idiots were at least fined and banned from useing the park again
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Not sure what the fuss is about. Its actually fairly impressive. He’s just a young adrenaline junky. A much worse problem is young tubby who sits at home on the sofa watching tv all the time helping to create an obesity epidemic.
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Which bright spark decided to put a skate park in an area with HGV’s.
Only in Jersey would the ESC department with huge open spaces and buildings at their disposal decide to put this somewhere inappropriate.
Strange that TTS can use the ramparts at the Fort as a dumping ground for unwanted rubbish whne something like this should be relocated there. Or do the keep fit populace not like mixing with the Sk8trs…
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Brilliant, over 2,100 more people have viewed the video overnight since splashing it over the front page.
Good work, JEP! High five!
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Yeah, Bring back the national service.This is exactly what you need when you finish education.
Respect and discipline will benefit a few.
And talking of benefits, I would rather see the £90 of benefits going into army training rather than £90 to stay home on PS3 24/7.
No wonder why there is so many Chavs…
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I think the idiots in this scenario are the ones running this Island. When they first put the skate park there I did wonder if it was the right place for it. I have to agree with 25 COM-mentator, the fort is the perfect location for the sk8trs to congregate. When I was a kid there was tons to do up at the fort, and there was less problems.
Lets hope some of the duly nominated and wanna be Senators/Deputies and Connetables do something for the youth of today and encourage them no discourage them from exercise.
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trinity hero
don’t know if anyone has thought of this but why don’t we bring back national service?
G Le Maistre
Bring back national service!!
I dare say that the forces could benefit from an intake of daredevils fresh from the skateboard scene.
Would they want the rest of the dumbos?
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Yup, we watched it yesterday and there were only around 450 viewings, well done JEP for the publicity, that kid is gonna think he’s a hero now
Seriously, watching the video, surely the lorry driver is in on it? It was going so slowly it was nearly at a standstill when the big brave boy jumped on, and it didn’t look like the driver even got out to see what had happened. I see that Ferryspeed declined to comment, ummm.
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Great Comments (Patryk Number 20)
nothing more needs to be said…
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What a great wheeze. Local hero in my estimation. All hail skate boy!
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Jonty @24, You have a point, at least he appears fit and healthy (physically at least) and is out getting some fresh air.
SEE “A comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in the economically advanced nations”
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc7_eng.pdf
See page 26, Figure 5.0 “Behaviours and risk-taking of young people”.
OMG ! -The worst in the developed world ?
And before people say that UK performance does not apply here, bear in mind that Jersey’s parental pressure, uber-materialism, social division and educational problems are probably worse !
Note also:
Summary Table on page 2
& Figure 4.0 Young people’s family and peer relationships (OECD overview)
Perhaps the young man is a philosopher, and reasons: If your life sucks, you may as well risk it to have a little fun.
Or perhaps he has not read that report yet ?
I wonder if he could offer better solutions than our business obsessed politicians who are not famed for implementing solutions which involve family life and education.
Why are British children so unhappy?
Is some re-evaluation of our priorities required ?
What are the Netherlands, Spanish etc. doing right ?
Jersey, as owner of one of the few ‘waterholes in the (tax)desert’ should be beating Sweden
How much blame for parents and how much for the politicians who have shaped our society ?
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@14, open your eyes………”Give us something to do if your complaining about everything else!!!!!”
Has it ever occurred to you to get off your lazy spoiled a**e and go and find something to do? We never had half the stuff provided for us that you do…….why should someone else always be responsible for everything you do…even your fun? Grow up, get outdoors and amuse yourselves….can’t be that hard, thousands before have managed it!!
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Yeah but…no but..yeah, well if the court don’t renew your free Aquasplash pass and your Creepy Valley vouchers well there ain’t nuffink else to do. Snot our fault,I mean ninety quid only covers your beer an fags,innit?
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@jbean ,,, the lorry was going so slow because there was two kids on roller blades standing in the middle of the road !! Also he did get out to see what was going on as another driver warned him their was someone on his roof over the radio, just to clear that up , I am an fs driver and witnessed the whole incident, and dread to think how a driver would feel had that lad fallen under the back axle
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@2
It’s not the case of endangering anyone but themselves. Would you like to be the person behind the wheel that kills him at no fault of their own? or the person that has to scrape him up off the floor, then go tell their parents?
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this kid is not a skater, don’t judge all of us just because of the actions of one individual. this whole thing has been blown WAY out of proportion, yeah the skatepark is in a stupid place but that doesnt mean they should even consider closing it. also this happened weeks ago, the police came down to the park had a little joke around with us then left, if they weren’t going to do anything about it on the day then why should anything be done weeks later just because the JEP decided to make a story on it on a slow news day
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Oh god why can’t you all see, it’s just harmless fun? Yes it’s dangerous, but teenagers, adults etc all do things that out their lives at risk for a bit of a laugh. He isn’t seeking attention, he was just messing around. That doesn’t make ALL skaters idiots, and i do not believe this lad is an idiot either. Was a law broken? Was he killed? Or injured?
‘Kids’ can look after themselves a lot better then some of the ‘adults’ can, and after all, you so called superior’s are the ones who brought us up.
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the reason i uploaded this video on YouTube wasn’t to see the skate park closed down or moved …
the intention was to warn parents that Somme of our kids are taking unnecessary risks that could cost their lives …
i feel bad if this have caused embarrassment to Somme people out there …
but i would feel much worse if something worse had happened and i did nothing …
as a father i think i did the wright thing …
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What about the dangers that cyclists pose to road users when they frequently ignore red traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, pavements and one-way signs?
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Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. It’s one wreckless incident – don’t let the minority spoil it for the majority. OK maybe the skate park isn’t in the best location but neither is the airport and planes at times have to fly over residential areas and no one seems to be bothered about the occasional propensity for them to fall out of the air – let’s keep this in perspective. As for the young person(s) who seem to think that they have some god given right to be provided with entertainment it’s about time they grew up – there is plenty, including skate boarding, to do in this Island – most areas in the UK and other countries for that matter would love to have the public facilities that Jersey has.
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Jonty @24, You have a point, at least he appears fit and healthy (physically at least) and is out getting some fresh air.
Many have had a cathartic rant but it is worth notinig that RISK TAKING BEHAVIOUR is a nationwide phenomenon and probably has facets including crime, violence and substance abuse.
SEE “A comprehensive assessment of the lives and well-being of children and adolescents in the economically advanced nations”
http://www.unicef-irc.org/publications/pdf/rc7_eng.pdf
See page 26, Figure 5.0 “Behaviours and risk-taking of young people”.
OMG ! -The worst in the developed world ?
And before people say that UK performance does not apply here, bear in mind that Jersey’s parental pressure, uber-materialism, social division and educational problems are in many ways WORSE !
Note also:
Summary Table on page 2
& Figure 4.0 Young people’s family and peer relationships (OECD overview)
Perhaps the young man is a philosopher, and reasons: If your life sucks, you may as well risk it to have a little fun.
Or perhaps he has not read that report and is just an idiot having his adrenalin fix.
I do wonder if he could offer better solutions than our business obsessed politicians who are not famed for implementing solutions which involve family life and education which are a good part of both the causes and the solution.
Why are British children so unhappy? (as documented in the UNICEF report)
Is some re-evaluation of our priorities required ?
What are the Netherlands, Spanish etc. doing right ?
Jersey, as owner of one of the few ‘waterholes in the (tax)desert’ should be beating Sweden
How much blame for parents and how much for the politicians who have shaped our society ?
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I was standing at the bottom of Grenville Street waiting for the pedestrian crossing to change to Green. Next to me was a mother with a double pram, waiting patiently. When the crossing did change to green a delightful woman (I won’t call her a lady) drove up in her Mercedes Chelsea Tractor while on the phone and then stopped ON the crossing – not before it but ON it. The lady with the pram could not proceed to cross.
I tapped the window of the car and spoke to the lady asking her to reverse she then told me in no uncertain terms to EFF-OFF. Looking in the back of the car were two young children in their school uniforms.
Nice example to the youth of today. If the boy had fallen under the truck I am sure his parents would sue the pants off Ferryspeed and the States, as mentioned above it is a minority of idiots who think they can get away with murder and 9 times out of ten its the rich little dahlings.
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#40 Student
Got to love youth of today. “it’s just harmless fun? Yes it’s dangerous, but teenagers, adults etc all do things that out their lives at risk for a bit of a laugh.” Actually it’s not harmless fun. What this person did was very stupid.
The problem with teenagers and young adults of today they don’t think of the ‘What if’ scenario.
What if, I missed the truck? Could I be hurt, could I have been killed. How would the driver feel if he found me under the wheels of his truck? would it ruin his/her life as they might be so shock they could never drive again. What would my parents do too? sue the buggers because I was stupid. The list goes on.
What if, I land on the truck and jump off again afterwards? Would I be cool? The list is much shorter for this one.
To all teenagers and young adults of today always think of the ‘What if’ scenario. Even when you are driving your cars or doing anything else. One example I will leave you all with, could I really get around that corner in the rain at 40mph+ with my car? Plausible but not likely with the lack of my driving ability. Live and learn folks.
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I’m jealous.
There’s no way I could manage this feat.
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Don’t worry people, it will all be our fault. What’s that favourite parent cop-out again? Oh, “it takes a village”.
As for us not providing kids with things to do,
I guess the latest models must come without brains or imagination! Hope the next version comes with an upgrade.
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‘Let’s not throw the baby out with the bath water. It’s one wreckless incident’
More by luck than judgement, Kevin.
The roof of the truck could have been wrecked, likewise the boardie’s life!
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#14 – “…..give us something to do….” – Says it all. Sounds like the usual “we want to do something but we won’t get up off our backsides unless someone else finds us something to do”. Grow up. Why does the JEP give space to these childish comments as in #14 above? Isn’t it about time these comments and views were totally ignored in favour of tax-paying adults? This might sound a little strong but I’m fed up of listening to whingeing children and teenagers who put nothing into the community but expect everything they want out of it. Skate parks, for instance…..
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fair play to him a bit of harmless fun he didnt get hurt so all u do gooders give it a rest he aint a skater he just some kid that was around the area, JEP great job loads of hits on youtube love it
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#28 – I don’t think the question is WHERE the skateboard park is situated, more WHY one was provided in the first place. Children shouting “I want, I want” because they know they’ll probably get it in the end, because for some reason which I really cannot understand, everyone from parents, through schoolteachers to politicians seem to think it’s important to listen to and act on childrens views. They’re CHILDREN!…no life experience, selfish due to immaturity and socially unproductive. Shouldn’t parents, schoolteachers, politicians, etc, be ensuring that it’s actually the children who should be listening to and acting on adults views?
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Why is this area never policed? Slightly off track but these lorries that use the New North Quay frequently park outside of the rear of the Maritime Museum on the yellow line while they go into Kufra’s to get their coffee and roll. These vehicles cause a dangerous obstruction especially a learner drivers now use this area to collect students. They then drive off in these monster lorries coffee and roll being consumed at the same time. These people are supposed to be professional drivers but hardly any use their indicators in this area. So dangerous with dozens of kids in the area.
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@David Jones.
I quite agree. Children should be seen at not heard. Lock them in a cupboard and don’t let them out until they are 18. The other day I witnessed a parent actually feeding their children, and buying them clothes. Disgraceful behaviour.
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52; yup. The lorry drivers are targeted by the idiots on skates so, instead of pulling up the skaters, have a go at the lorry drivers (whose skills have probably already averted a fatal accident). Brilliant thinking. It’s a bit like targeting householders who are burgled but, hey, burglars have rights too, man!
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I’m a professional truck driver, I’ve seen kids on skateboards and bikes doing stunts like this around, (or on!) my trucks for years. Only three of them were injured, and they knew the risks they were taking.
This is just kids being kids, MOST of them get away with it, and some… (like the one who went under the States’ gritter truck 15 years ago), don’t. DEATH…. as they say, is a part of life.
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yay abit of publicity for jersey, something exciting happening for once, and aggree with sanity, what idiot does place the skater park there anyway
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