Second sight London Taggers - BBC Documentary

making their mark now on bbc2 as graffiti becomes a new urban warfare first sight tracks down talents [Music] [Music] you me and I [Music] everywhere you look in London there's graffiti stopping it is costing millions graffiti writers Warner taggers stop at nothing to make a mark [Music] this trains about to leave [Music] and stones this one the passengers can only watch I'm suspect to see new Broadway that will try and approach them without game or we don't want to fight them off no want to end up chasing people down the tracks Thursday night was the Transport Police at Kings Cross plot the final details of tonight's stakeout operation they're up against it part of an eight strong team that mounts such operations across North London several times a year all offices information of both outstanding offenders and also offenders that we have arrested in the past so it's stills of what they look like what damage being committed copy of crime reporter stuff like that so know what information we've got it's very thin people we see today and then with a fetch arrest on them figure out there well half the teams take out one station the others will patrol several more hoping to catch the graffiti writers the course London the taggers are already out they all username their tag to identify their handiwork I like doing trains basically any type of trains [Music] I've been doing it for about 10 years old house used to back onto the railway tracks and like then times they're like tubes but they were getting like hit all the time pieces going on them and all that and I just got turned on by that basically once you start you can't stop knowing is that I just got to get your ball up everywhere you've got the up there you've got to get out there everyone's got to see you like you can't go anywhere without like just get on a train is like you know I mean you could just see graph everywhere is addictive you can't get out so Fame thing in a way would Station North London it's in the middle of an area targeted by the taggers gathering the evidence against them takes up a huge amount of police time the fitti is a visible sign of unlawful behavior and your graffiti is allowed to remain but it'll put people off from using the station the public's perception will be that it's a lawless place taggers often record their own exploits from photos they've moved on to video the more dangerous the place the greater the thrill here they forced their way into the driver's cab at the back of the Train and out of the window [Music] the third electrified rail on the track carries 750 volts but that doesn't stop these two last year a hundred people died trespassing on the railways many of them taggers we said getting arrested for me and getting fried on the tricks that's the risk of me running out of one cheap yard towards North London and I was running along the tracks and slip over my leg when underneath the third row but there must have been turned off because I'm still here I was going out to do some bombing basically going out and putting up the tag as much as possible what we would call like a dub which is like a silver and black piece which is just generally faster stars and you can do like four or five pieces in the space of an hour just then and my silver and black Chris sim soon began his graffiti career 13 years ago he took ever greater risk to get his tag on two train stations and track sides one night in March last year was luck finally ran out what happened was the first rain that the space of girl in the class track basically came in on the passenger side track and I didn't see it in order the commotion of being when you're on a track and you've got so many things going on all around you and you're scared and I was hiding underneath the platform thinking that I would have been safe because it was going to be on the track behind me because I had my back towards where I was coming from the Train hit me dramatic Spade and it's something that I'll never forget never the train was 15 cars and it basically smashed me against the side of a train and a solid brick wall on the platform and ripped my arm off cracked all my ribs punctured my lung broke my shoulder I severe bruising and I've got like burns who would write my back I've got a hole in my back yeah it really messed my life up on Cricklewood station the Transport Police spot some likely lads oh there you go I'll get another get check keep more I'm not just beyond the platform a stations you know a group of labs that fit the general description of people that commit these offenses there might be perfectly innocent but I've seen it on the platform they've seen you so now he's gonna sit at the back experience shows that the Tigers favorite part the station for their tags the white pencil war in the shelter as you can see from here the boys take the next train so the officers head through North London towards the stakeout at Mill Hill forget people taking the organised gangs that commit the large neural time between K tend to be from what a large social background from use and come from professional families the way down Joe and Nick are here to buy the latest creations for their new shop good time from tame he hopes the t-shirt business will help him kick the graffiti habit okay okay way it's still kind of defeating it's still using micro feet you know you understand in a way I kind of see that I'm still getting up my name is getting there I'm seeing my name in magazines I'm seeing famous people wearing my name on their t-shirts and that's amazing us in the same way that seeing my train run down your chain line used to be a buzz seeing my name on somebody know going to a movie premiere wore in magazine I think that's no that's that's the buzz that I'm getting now the cities where been owned is living for over ten years all that time he led a jekyll-and-hyde existence insurance go to London and top of responsibilities being about accounts so there I was so tired during the day balaclavas and lux acts in the evenings work didn't know my little secret defeating evenings weekends remember used to go out painting bowling trains straight after work in the students I know one would have suspected me so not your methods little shell toe fat laces b-boy howitzer Ben's been fined over a thousand pounds and he's had a hundred and eighty hours community service for graffiti offenses he stopped tagging now but for those still at it he thinks the punishments just make the graffiti wall more intense if you've been to prison for the v8 if you know next time you get caught you're going back to prison so well if you're that kind of person that doesn't mind spending three months six months in prison and so what you've got nothing to lose so we're gonna do just just make yourself the biggest nuisance and you know start a kind of personal war against British Transport Police you know not do things for the art not do things because you know you're enjoying doing it's because it's a spiteful war against the people that are trying to send you to prison in this war the trains are the prized targets and graffitis costing the rail companies well over 5 million pounds a year each time a trains painted graffiti is taken out of service to be cleaned extra security at stations a new train yards costs millions more Thameslink alone spend half a million pounds a year just on the cleaning acquaintance is generally keen on the siege of the trains windows scratching stuff like that it's what's on the exterior we do you know an occasional have stuff and then theater as well that's for example I mean to vrs transport book 10 15 seconds what can generally be done that station sort of thing he just sprays on walks away does something else the window etching another hand takes a bit more time and it's a bit more trouble for us that can come off with a proprietary graffiti removal chemicals that night hunters actually etched into the glass using a knife or a screwdriver or whatever to get rid of that we've got to replace a whole window [Music] as the more against the graffiti vandals hots up they turn to new targets edging windows all dutch graffiti is the latest craze for Thameslink each window replaced costs 200 pounds 8 out of 10 of their windows are etched all the time window scratches it stays there for ages it's the only good thing about it people do window scratching because like I said because you can't you know get scratched off not your turkeys in a kennel paint or whatever will just get rubbed off in south london Railtrack have their own full-time squad cleaning the bridges and the track size but now the cleaners can't keep pace with the taggers once we do it normally been three days they've come back and read on it again it's like a new cannabis for and really we do it they come back and graffiti I'm afraid I like the last four years I mean going the same places and you know after a week they've hit it constantly for about two between half three years he's just you know absolutely unbelievable really we spend about 160,000 pounds a year to proactively remove graffiti but we only really remove racist offensive sexist graffiti we don't remove whole sales waves of graffiti will in certain locations we're all we've moved repeatedly some high Pokemon areas just try and make the area look you know trying to improve the environment generally but due to the scale of the graffiti across the whole rail network what would that question well within South London from the Greater London area south of the Thames that were possible even of three three and a half million pounds and that's just for an initial claim it's obviously to go back and continue to remove the graffiti you're talking about millions of pounds on a continual basis what you're doing is committing a crime you do you think that there might be any victims of that crime it's not really hurt in any one part of Memphis on property exactly that's the Sun someone's house and there is a victim but it's along a railway bridge and there's no victim you know I would I wouldn't able to go and spray someone's that in some middle-class area you know I mean like that some some nicely I wouldn't describe spray someone's wall to know I mean because I was a very dense - that's - what's our for them is sheer vandalism for others in Walgreens South London graffitis blight in people's lives but it started but every year ago but it's gradually got worse when they first did it they was fairly faint but in the last month or so this got a bit more what I'm worried about is extending in other ways for example the side of a house in the opposite turning has already been got graffiti on it and that's an ordinary house you wonder now what they're going to do next with it's on your front door you know it was really nice quiet area you know they've just sprayed a big bullet business or they'll paint there and it just looks absolutely disgusting the way it doesn't really look out thing is disgusting is sheer vandalism you know and nothing else that's what I would call it and I mean these left to us obviously to clean up their mess which they call ah I started on the back in first and they've just them continue to do it ever since yeah if you clean it up those just back so we just leave it have you have you complained of you please no really not really I mean do who do you talk to you everywhere you look around you this is always graffiti you know and I don't honestly think the police could do anything about it they probably are more interesting for other crimes you know then a graffiti I've been actin in West London one police officer is making it his own personal mission to tackle graffiti crime - shop closes and is desolate for example like this one on the corner here what you find is a proliferation of graffiti or what we call tagging again for example am i right here when you get a shot that's closed the Tigers will come along and they will cover it and it will remain because nobody's there to tidy it up and I'm driving under this bridge here and it's a really popular bridge because the braver you are the closer you get to the center of the bridge now that comer up there he's really brave all the others at the side of the bridge have obviously hung off of the edges where as one's got right into the middle and that would have been good for him to do that in his behavior inspector honey is trying to galvanize the whole community here to squeeze the taggers out it's a freak yeah well I shall pop down the date yeah can you show us so I see the problems you go and I'd like to discuss with you because those imposed to go to be painted I'm just saying if I recognize any of them I seems to be some common ones so you've had you've had the front repainted have you completely bleeding at all I can see you that's what the creamy color and you've you try to redo it again here it just keeps coming back presumably does yeah how long has this been going on for example in lush yeah yes yeah the nature of taggers as you know is to stake their claim oh yeah yeah and if they know well I'm not going to paint now I'm not going to take the Albion because Nixon won he's gonna be out there this paint brush and I won't do it so yeah and then I do if you could do that the whole street and we should be laughing I see you've got some um some etchings all over your glass here so have this two days and that's HTM isn't it it's on the other plane I mean how much of that cost to fix a big plane like that that's two to four thousand pounds I'm gonna jump till taking a walk up the road having a little talking to people and I'll come and see you in the meantime explain what we can do about it all right inspector honey knows most of the taggers in Acton but it's one thing to know them what another to catch them we've certainly seen patterns of tags together and that's the way sometimes we can work out what if I see this particular tag alongside this tag the individuals know each other so if we can work out who one is we can hopefully start working out who the other is and start dealing with networks of friends there is a vast chasm of difference between having a tag and the name associated with it and having the evidence to prosecute or to rep remodel to warn the juveniles okay the police have to catch the Vandals red-handed at Mill Hill so far it's been a very quiet night sergeant Barnes leaves burned evidence of an attempted break-in at the ticket office they might have been or somebody might have been trying to pull something in from there to make the [ __ ] over I've got the characters now across London many local councils have decided if you can't beat them then bring in Youth Action mm Darren is looking for inspiration to graffiti a pavilion in Eden Park it's all aboveboard and keeps the taggers off the railways I mean cause it's a side we're doing it we're there the houses like the public can view it I think is something to do constructive that they can connect and like relate to you know rather than doing like some mayor kind of graffiti style characters normal thing but something they can relate to you know everyone knows comic star only basically I'm too lazy to draw my own stuff that US copy it there's nothing in here okay Darren's legal graffiti is becoming commonplace on shop shutters and stations across London he knows graffiti writers seldom be faced their own artwork and he's keeping the nuisance graffiti at bay and what I can bear the moments of sight do the tagging form which is pretty cool but at the end of the day they would love to write pieces you know which is like what's this all about you can't table your life you can wear the same time should you do something more constructive with your art I mean you're gonna waste your life you can graph it you might do things that have it taggers seldom mend their ways three out of four graffiti offenders commit the crime again I think it's personally worse than drugs if you're a young person starting to do graffiti is worse than taking drugs kid can take drugs for the first time really like it but has to wait until they've got that money to go and get that drug again drugs nowadays most cost from five to 15 pounds for yunkai that's a lot of money but with the fee they can do it once and do it again five-minute slap hands talk to you when you walk past the shot they tell you to come in never look what's in there gotta be good at our game to be any good to know I mean caught me kinda runs black rice I'm scribble Outsiders would look at it as scribble but the feet rise that's that's all you would really want people to knows you know I mean just a culture an addictive culture what would stop you doing it is there anything that would be a deterrent that we've stopped you doing at attendance in the five grand fine things like that really but this was all when I was younger so they couldn't really do nothing to me really never been a gel for that I think prison would stop you No I've been to prison for everything you ain't stopped me for them you've got a couple of hates that keep popping up and down over in the stairwell I'm at platform one back at Mill Hill the stakeout looks like paying off stairwell because it's quite a regular place where people would do some graffiti along the subway walls because it's as general it's not waiting area for members of public so if there's they've got a lookout they can quietly as a graffiti the wall then carry on about their business all we've had is a habeas just block popped up from across the way on platform one looked out go back down and come back up again oh it's gone back down so I've just spoken to Alan bars you the skipper he's just popping around to make sure there isn't someone thinking yeah it's yes two four nine one look at me little Broadway the moment clever person check please show he's known for okay thanks a lot cheers bye I'm caught shoplifting it was that throw me on the station and we stand okay waiting outside then all the fences committee it's not a fancy young get around the group some of the group we know for committee proceeded see you angry I'd like that wait for somebody wake them down the stairs there's a group of you who's hanging around in this booking ball basically messing about one of them is a person who previously dealt before graffiti so as a result of that we've just had a few words with them they have with any offenses on this occasion so it's a problem that's growing more so in recent time so it's not a problem but you've always that some from the creepy about football slogans painted on walls you know years ago it's never been to the scale that you've got it now you know we have seen in the last couple years why has it changed more is it increasing they're criminals they're breaking the law you know decide to investigate crime and put these people before the cult another night ends for the graffiti team no arrests this time and another warning that graffiti won't be tolerated you have to go on track you have to go and do trains and that's what real graphs about you know it's not about doing illegal Wars where you can have like and I all day all the time you want and not have any any dangers around you you know that's what grass is about that's what it started as being a band or that that was the whole point of what most kids start nowadays you know [Music] see you and the tea is cold okay hi [Music] [Music]

Channel: UK Frontline Magazine

Views: 16,722

Keywords: ukfrontline, graffiti, ukgraff, londongraffiti, london

Id: I8g20kJPq5A

Length: 28min 42sec (1722 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 11 2020