Newspaper seller is threatened by gang

Ian Graham, 46, who runs a stall in the town centre, close to Debenhams, was working on Friday afternoon when three teenagers approached him and demanded a free copy of the Adver. When he refused they gathered round and started to read the copies Ian had on his stall.

He said: "I told them, 'This is not a library,' but they just carried on so I took the papers down and the cash box and put them under the stall because I was worried they would take them.

"One of the men who had been smoking stubbed his cigarette out on the stall. I didn't like that at all so I brushed the ash away in an angry way.

"I grabbed the front of his shirt and pushed him away. Then the other one came up to me in a threatening way so I kicked him in the shin. I was not going to wait for him to hit me."

The three youths then made off and returned five minutes later, challenging Ian to a fight. But by this time shopkeepers and fellow street sellers had gathered around, so the group left.

The incident has left Ian shaken and with an injured foot from kicking one of the youths, but he is determined to work.

"I do feel angry about what happened but in this day and age I suppose it is to be expected," he said. "I am concerned that they might hide somewhere and wait for me to pack up. But I would not say it's put me off work."

Ian's partner Valerie Copeland, 56, who he lives with in the Railway Village, said: "I was quite worried about Ian when he got home. As I'm disabled, he usually does all the shopping but because of his foot he hasn't been able to this weekend."

Ian says he has seen the group in the town area before, often begging for money.

"They are well known in the area.

"Both the men were about six foot tall one had scruffy blonde hair and the other had brown hair and a small moustache.

"I didn't see the third person because he didn't really take part in what they were doing."

He told the police what happened but they are doing nothing matter about it.