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Today, I was skating a seven set in London, when I experienced one of the weirdest kick-outs I'd ever experienced.
Me and some friends were skating this seven on Thames Path. It's a seven set on a through path, which links the pathway to the main road, so doesn't really belong to any kind of building or block of offices.
It was around 6 p.m. in the evening, possibly closer to 7 p.m, meaning all offices were shut down, and there was no-one using the stair set. For what its worth, the place was desolate.
Only two of us were actually skating the set. It had been a long day, and everyone was tired, but my friend and I kept going at it. "Skate 'til death", right?
Anyway, soon enough, this security guard came out. He wasn't pleasant. He barely spoke English. He just waved his hands like we were some irritable pest, gesturing us off the "public property" (I thought it was private property that we were meant to get kicked from?).
We were tired as hell, so we were just like "Give us a few minutes to sit on the grass, we just wanna chill. We won't skate". Maybe he's heard this a few too many times, but it was a bit of a joke when he told us "No-one sits on the grass. This is private property. Go. Go now!"
This had to be a joke. Only six hours earlier had we passed this same spot at lunch time, and decided not to skate it as people were eating lunch on the grass and having fun with their friends. We were being the considerate ones! We come back at an anti-social hour, and we still get kicked! And then we're not allowed to sit on the grass, when people had been doing that all day! Harsh or what?!
The real irony is, as we left, a young lady, around 20 years of age, parked herself down on the grass and started eating a sandwich. And yet our good friend who couldn't speak English hardly ran out of his building to shoo her away, in the "Get off my land or I'll kill you" manner that he used with us.
My question is "Does carrying a skateboard really prohibit us from many of lifes luxuries, like sitting on the grass and chilling out by the cool London sunset, sharing a few laughs with your friends, and grabbing a drink before the long treck home?"
Obviously, some security guards need to chill out and start treating skaters as the talented athletes we are, especially considering we treat others with respect by skating at anti-social hours and complying with unfair rules constantly.
How do you believe we, the skater, or "the public enemy" should deal with security guards like this, without aggressive (verbal, physical or violent) behavior?
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i've encountered something very similar to what happened to you as well. some friends and i were skating a gap behind a closed doctors office. it was probably around 10:00 at night. a man i assume was security charges out of the building screaming. there are no signs, we are not damaging property, and i explained we would not be a liability issue. that was "not the problem." apparently, the problem was he "hated skater faggots like us." intelligent conversation wasn't possible due to the fact whenever one of the group would speak it was cut off with "FAG!" instead of responding aggressively, we started walking away. "hey skater fags why you runnin'?"
so i guess i've just learned to avoid situations like that. it's easy enough to read what people are thinking when they see skateboarders. if it looks like getting the boot from a spot is about to get ugly, it's best to just leave. the dicks who try to get skaters into confrontations are the worst. simply because you are carrying a board, you are singled out from others.
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I would just stay skating there, if ppl ask like: could you please go ,it's annoying. than I would go,
but it they are like: get the fuck out of here. nope, then I won't go
we are treated as a lower form of society, possibly because of the assholes who do stupid things on the public property and this kind of thing wouldnt happen.
they allways trash shi*
graff EVERYWHERE
and tell the cops and other scurity gards to f*ck off
most of me and my mate would be fine
dude, i feel for you, i hate it when you are considerate and you still get shouted at.
i went to england for a week for holidays hoping i could skate round 9pm when every1 was at home, like skate round london, and i got a fine. so unfair!