A MOTHER-OF-SIX is so disgusted at street drinking in a Huntingdon shopping centre that she has started a petition to get it banned.

Sheena Earley decided to take action after walking to the shops at Oak Drive, Oxmoor, at 8.15am and seeing a group of men drinking.

She said. “It is really intimidating to see a group of drunk men in a space like that. It also terrifies pensioners.

“I don’t want my 10-month-old girls or my eight-year-old boys to see that on their way to and from school – it sets a bad example. I don’t drink around my children because of that.”

Ms Earley, 44, of Nene Road, put petitions in St John’s Primary School and in the dentist and doctor’s surgeries in the Oak Tree Centre, and so far has 100 signatures.

On The Hunts Post community website streetlife.com support for a ban on street drinking has been strong.

Lorna K said: “Some of my friends find it intimidating when they have to walk past these groups in the mornings while taking their children to school.

“A friend had to walk past a group of five or six young men who were all drinking alcohol at 8.30am, and felt intimidated.”

Cambridgeshire police are working with partner agencies to secure exclusion areas, preventing the consumption of alcohol.

A spokesman said: “We have received concerns around people drinking in these areas.

“We are working with Huntingdonshire District Council to develop posters in four languages that are to be put up asking for people to be considerate to others who want to use the areas.”

INFORMATION: A copy of the petition will be in the Hunts Post office if you want to support the ban.