A security guard with years of experience says ‘things have to change’ after he was attacked by youths during a night shift at the Chill Factore. Craig Dudley Evans, 64, was left with a fractured nose and cheekbone after he was assaulted at the venue in Trafford.
According to Craig, he was punched in the face and pushed down a flight of stairs in the incident that happened on Tuesday evening (October 22). Craig says that the attack was carried out by a group of teenagers who he had asked to leave at the start of his shift and they had returned.
Chill Factore say they are ‘shocked’ by the incident and are in contact with Craig to provide support as he recovers. The MEN understands that that GMP responded to the incident the night it was reported and is working closely with Craig.
Craig signed in at the Chill Factore at around 8:30pm that day. His first encounter with the troublemakers occurred during his first patrol when he had to chase off six teens that he spotted messing around in a room that was used for children’s parties.
After seeing them off, Craig says he thought that was the ‘last of it’. However, a few minutes later, two teenagers returned to reception claiming that they had left a football of theirs in the room and demanded it be returned.
Refusing to take no for an answer, Craig was at the end of a violent attack. “I told them to come back tomorrow when the manager’s in.” Craig recounted to the MEN.
“I said the manager would open up and give them their ball back as I don’t know what’s meant to be in there and what’s not.
“They demanded I give it to them there and then but I repeated myself and they went. At 10pm there were still guests upstairs but we were closing down.
“This group came again trying to get to the first floor. I told them we’re close and they should come back tomorrow.
“In the next minute, one of them threw water into my face, pummelled me in the face with both fists and pushed me downstairs.
“I was panicking trying to stop myself, I went down like ten steps and ripped my arms to pieces. I’ve got a fractured nose, cheekbone and bruises everywhere.
“I went to run after them but a second teenager told me to just leave it. Then I went to the barman and told them to get the police and ambulance.
A former policeman, Craig says he has had years of experience in the security industry after leaving the force.
“I’ve worked the doors in Manchester and I’ve never had that severity of injury, it was just pure violence.” He said.
“This is the worst I’ve ever been attacked. When I went home my wife was stunned, she didn’t want to look at me because my face was so bad.”
Craig is currently resting at home and has multiple appointments with health officials to assess his injuries. He says that he hopes to return to work soon but in a much safer environment with more support.
He said: “Things are going to have to change because I work alone.
There’s a system on our radios where people can call me for help but if I needed them for help I’d have to start changing my channels to find them, there’s a fault in our system so that’s no good.”
A Spokesperson for Chill Factore said: “Everyone at Chill Factore was shocked by this incident. Craig was attacked whilst verbally asking a group of youths, creating trouble in our venue and concerning our guests, to leave.
“We take the security of our guests and our team extremely seriously. Craig is a permanent full-time member of our security team, and we are in constant contact with him to provide all necessary support while he recovers.
“We have also provided CCTV footage to the police to aid in their investigation and help them identify and arrest the individuals involved.”
Source – Manchester Evening News
