The independent housing ombudsman got a nasty taste of front line housing management last week when a gang threw a brick into the car he was sitting in and pinched his bag
The robbery, which left Roger Jefferies shocked but unhurt, happened in a traffic jam in Salford as he was being driven round housing estates in the area by Irwell Valley chief executive Tom Manion.

Manion said: "Roger was having a top day, then wallop, bang crash off goes his bag." A gang of four or five boys came up to the to car. Jefferies then heard one of them say ''brick it, brick it''.

Speaking to Housing Today he said: "We suddenly found ourselves being stoned. That was rather alarming. There was this split moment when I thought this brick was coming in my direction. They then smashed the back window, seized my overnight bag and ran off."

Manion and Jefferies got the bag back after offering money to a boy aged around 12 or 13. Shortly afterwards an even younger boy appeared with bag. Jefferies said: "We rather got the feeling that it was scam they were running."

The ombudsman had come to visit Irwell Valley's Gold Service housing management scheme which rewards well-behaved tenants but offers only basic services to anti-social tenants. Manion stressed that gang involved were not Irwell Valley tenants, and the incident occured a long way from any of the association's homes.

Jefferies said: "Some things you have to experience first hand to understand and that was one of them. It persuaded me that landlords who operate in areas like that have a really tough time - it was evidence of real front line difficulties. You read about such things but it's not until it happens that you recognise how frightening it is."

He added: "It really illustrated the points Tom had been making." Manion, whose tough line on anti-social behaviour has been extensively reported in these pages, said: "It was an example of what the Chablis drinking liberals call the disaffected youth."

Source

Housing Today