On the 30th December, several of our children were robbed of their precious belongings by a group of youths with the threat of being stabbed within Bluewater.

My own personal experience involved my son and his friend being robbed and left alone for over two hours without any assurances for their safety or welfare or indeed any communication from Bluewater. We were asked to wait and not move from the spot by a North Kent Police operator and was informed an officer would attend. The children were scared, concerned and exposed. There was no attempt after the robbery to provide the children with a place of safety before the parents arrived and there was no attempt to contact us with reassurances in the two hours that followed.  We were essentially left abandoned.

Our children's safety needs to put above cuts and profit with an increased visibility of security and an increased police presence. The code of conduct needs to be reviewed with a view to a zero tolerance policy in place at every entrance and exit. More importantly, Bluewater needs to completely overhaul it's duty of care to victims of crime and ensure that children are never left exposed and vulnerable in the immediate aftermath.