Rooftop teenagers 'dicing with death'

A TRADER in Heathfield has warned that somebody could die if youths continue to play on the roof of her building.

Diane Kirkness, of Dijon, in Streatfield Road, said that teenagers were risking serious injury or even death by climbing on to the flat roof of her shop.

The managing director of the dolls house wholesalers told the Sussex Express that the youngsters had already caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to her business. She added that if they did not stop one could fall from or even through the felt roof to his or her death.

She said: 'They play up there all the time. It all happens at night. They go up and put their foot through the roof, which weakens it, particularly when it rains.

'Recently, a ball that they left up there blocked a water pipe, which caused a lot of flooding and resulted in thousands of pounds worth of damage to the shop.'

She said the youths had been 'mucking around' on her roof for more than a year, and added: 'The police come and put their sirens on. It scares them off but they're back the very next night.

'It's a two-storey roof. I don't know how they get up there. But they're showing a serious lack of consideration to people and if they're not careful someone will be killed.'