Helensburgh mum Jane* lives near Coles, but she won’t shop there. Instead, Jane drives half an hour to Bulli Woolworths for groceries – even if it’s just a bottle of milk.
“I will literally jump in my car and drive somewhere else rather than give them business,” Jane told 2508 last month. “They couldn’t care less about the community.”
For the past four years, since moving to a home near the Coles car park, Jane says her family has suffered sleepless nights thanks to noisy hoons.
“You have them smashing trolleys against cars all the time. If Coles locked the car park at night when they closed, none of this would happen.”
Trouble-makers gather on “weekends, school holidays and when it rains”, she said. “Because it’s a good hang-out place in the dry.
“It’s been a nightmare. This has been going on for years. There’s also dirt everywhere, some houses have rubbish coming from the Coles car park into their gardens.”
For Jane, the night of January 28 – when about 20 people in eight cars arrived at the car park – was the tipping point. People were riding in trolleys, smashing into walls, racing vehicles through the car park. “They were shouting, screaming, sounding their horns – it was just constant.”
Jane called the Police Assistance Line four times, her husband called twice. After about two hours of this behaviour the crowd left at 11.15pm when they saw Jane filming the footage pictured above. “They all suddenly jumped in their cars and left.”
Police officers did attend the next day and have since followed up with a phone call, Jane said.
“The police said they were teenagers, driving their parents’ cars. The police were good. They did speak to Coles. But [Coles] didn’t seem to care.”
Security cameras in the Coles car park don’t work, and “everybody knows” that there’s no police presence in Helensburgh, Jane said.
“So that’s how they get away with it. It’s not on.”
Jane has written, filled out online forms, phoned Coles and posted on its Facebook page. “They’re not really fussed. I spoke to Customer Service this morning, they said, ‘yeah, yeah, we’ll pass it on’.”
In a formal complaint to Coles about the January 28 incident, Jane cc’d NSW Police, the offices of Heathcote MP Lee Evans and Cunningham MP Sharon Bird, and Wollongong City Council.
No one has yet come to her aid.
“Nobody seems to care. I’m literally at a loss.”
In February, desperate to the point of selling her house and leaving Helensburgh, Jane contacted 2508, sharing her video footage of car park hoons.
2508 contacted Coles. Its Media Relations team took six days to respond with this: “As Coles does not own the centre, we have engaged the Lessor to review the customer’s concerns.”
The Coles spokesperson recommended “reaching out to the Harfleur Group”.
According to the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, the Harfleur Group is an Australian proprietary company registered in Victoria. Only a GPO Box address was listed with ASIC and no comment has yet been obtained.
Neighbourhood Forum 1 convenor Warwick Erwin said he would look into the problem. And, as 2508 was going to press, Jane reported that MP Lee Evans had replied to her letter.
* real name withheld.
