My family is being terrorised - and it's because we're black

Parents tell of nightmare of abuse, vandalism and harassment

- CHARLOTTE HALL

JOHN was on the motorway with his wife Sarah when his engine shut down. The car lost power. It was all he could do to steer the vehicle onto the hard shoulder into safety before the car came to a halt.

But more terrifying than his ordeal on the motorway was his discovery after it. Someone had intentionally topped up his petrol tank with water, putting his family in danger.

“We didn’t feel like we are in a safe environment,” John said. “You just ask yourself: What if our son had been in the car? What if we hadn’t managed to pull to the side of the motorway?”

And this wasn’t the first time Sarah and John claim their cars have been the target of vandalism and criminal damage. In the last year and a half, he estimates they’ve had to fork out £5,000 in repairs for the vehicles. (The car which had water filled into the tank was deemed a ‘write off’, but the replacement was luckily covered by insurance).

“They’ve been scratched up, the tyres have been slashed twice – with a blade,” he said.

John and his family, whose names have been changed for their protection, believe they are being targeted by a group in their neighbourhood – because of their skin colour.

John said: “Only cars belonging to black people are being targeted. It’s only us and one other guy in the area. It’s clear they don’t want us here.”

The family moved to Waterhead three years ago, but the 33-year-old, who is studying to become a mental health nurse, said the trouble started almost as soon as they moved in.

John said the harassment comes in different forms: doors and gates blocked in by bins, tyres pierced, the tank filled with water and getting ‘parked in’ by other cars so they couldn’t get to work or university and causing serious parking disputes among the neighbours.