Caretakers at West Dunbartonshire high-flats have raised fears for their safety over plans to have them tackle more anti-social behaviour.
Their concerns, raised during last month’s West Dunbartonshire Council (WDC) meeting, were further heightened recently by a confrontation outside a tower in Dalmuir.
Police confirmed the workers, aged 53 and 38, were subject to shouting and swearing outside Clydebank’s Dalmuir Court at around 5.35pm on April 9.
A 24-year-old man was banging on the driver’s side of a WDC work van, and when approached by the caretakers, he became aggressive towards them.
Police attended and issued the man with a recorded police warning.
Council papers last month showed an £81,000 underspend for tackling anti-social behaviour and vacant posts were awaiting a “service restructure”.
Peter Barry, the council’s strategic lead for housing and employability, told the meeting caretakers could take on some anti-social behaviour duties.
He said: “We are not asking them to take on specific tasks - we’re asking them to be more flexible. Positive discussions are underway.”
But David Scott, a GMB convener, said last week’s incident was the sort of anti-social behaviour staff are concerned they will have to deal with.
He said: “We have to live and work with these people but they’re asking us to grass them in.”
Councillor Danny Lennie, who lives in the Dalmuir high-flats, said the abuse of caretakers came as no surprise.
A council spokeswoman said: “A review of anti-social behaviour and estate caretaking is ongoing and employees and trade unions are being consulted as part of this. We take a zero tolerance approach to abuse of our employees.”
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