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One of the UK's most iconic streets is now hellish with sky-high crime rates and people entering shops with machetes.
London's Oxford Street is one of the most fashionable and recognisable roads on the planet, where several massive brands have their flagship stores.
But recently the hordes of shoppers have been supplanted by hordes of yobs and police responding to their anti-social behaviour.
The Met Police sent officers to Oxford Street last weekend and put a dispersal order in place. The disorder came after videos emerged on TikTok in the week encouraging youths to loot stores such as JD Sports.
Disorder throughout last week, starting on Wednesday (August 9), resulted in several clashes between police and youths. Nine people were arrested.
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak issued a warning to the so-called TikTok yobs, branding their behaviour "appalling".
He said: "I fully support the police in bringing those people to justice.
"I want anyone watching who is thinking about this, who sees something like this, to know that they will be met with the full force of the law.
"Because that type of behaviour is simply unacceptable in our society."
Even this week, on Thursday (August 17), mounted police were spotted on Oxford Street following rumours of further disorder.
And moreover, those who work there say the recent incidents are not a one-off.
A security guard at a sportswear store told The Sun a customer recently walked into their store with a machete in their bag.
The security guard said: "We detained him and the police came. He was very young. I should invest in a security T-shirt to block a knife going in."
A sales assistant from another high street chain said: "We don’t get paid enough for any of this. It’s weird to fathom the stuff I have to deal with
"One girl who was caught shoplifting got really close to my face and she was like: ‘Watch, I know where you work.’
"Basically threatening that she’s going to do something and made me feel very uncomfortable."
On top of all this, Oxford Street is facing a number of other problems as it slips into a steady decline.
The Sun reports one in five shops are now empty due to a combination of sky-high rents and big name stores shutting down. Topshop, Debenhams and House of Fraser have all gone in recent years.
As with several streets in London there is also homelessness, with an average of 40 people sleeping rough on Oxford Street every night.
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- London
- Crime
- Knife Crime
- TikTok
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