Glasgow teens who threw trolley onto motorway apologise to victim

A Glasgow City Council officer described the meeting as ‘powerful’.

Glasgow teens who threw a shopping trolley on to a motorway, hitting a car, have come face to face with the driver to apologise as part of restorative community scheme.

The encounter was described as “powerful” by a council officer who helped organise the programme for eight 14-year-old boys in the north east of the city.

The scheme this year saw a couple of the youths who threw the shopping trolley meet their victim and apologise in person.

Describing the moment, council officer Lorraine Gardiner said: “A young man was involved in a very serious incident were a couple of the boys in our group had thrown a shopping trolley on the motorway. It landed on top of this young man’s car.

“He survived and he wasn’t badly injured but you can imagine the consequences. It could have been a lot more serious. It was a really powerful input and he talked about how he was affected, how his family was affected and how he is still affected with his job and everything.”

Ms Gardiner, an early and effective intervention team worker, added: “At the end of that, the boys apologised for their part in it. The person harmed got a lot of benefit from that.”

The young people took part in a number of activities with a community police officer and campus cop to stop them falling into lives of crime.

The pupils had been carrying weapons.

Eating lunch with the police, discussing attitudes to crime and meeting a former addict and an ex prisoner were some of the lessons.

They also learned about first aid, the harmful impact of weapons and drugs and conflict resolution. An ex police chief inspector also came along to talk to them. The programme ended with a skiing and tubing session.

Ms Gardiner said: “One of the biggest successes was the level of engagement with police officers before, during and after the programme.”

Campus police officer Graham Foy said offending among the teens has reduced.

He said they were previously on the cusp of moving into gang violence and weapons charges.

Details of the scheme, which runs in different areas, was presented to the most recent Glasgow City Council education, skills and early years city policy committee.

Councillor Elaine Ballantyne, SNP, thanked the police officers and Ms Gardiner for all their work in the area.