Riot-hit shopkeepers in call for better parenting

Riot-hit shopkeepers in the Black Country today called for parents to take responsibility for the actions of the looters who do not know the "difference between right and wrong."

It comes after an independent panel set up following disturbances last summer said schools which fail to teach pupils to read and write should be fined.

About a fifth of school leavers have the literacy skills of an 11-year-old or younger, leaving many with no stake in society and no reason to stay out of trouble, the riots communities and victims panel said.

Marauding yobs looted shops in Wolverhampton and West Bromwich on August 9 following violence in Birmingham and London.

Sham Sharma, who runs electronics and computer store Sunitek.com on Broad Street, Wolverhampton, lost around £50,000 of stock when his shop was hit.

He said: "The education system on the whole has let a lot of young people down but that's not the whole story.

"Parents have to take responsibility. Even someone who did not have a good education should be able to know the basic difference between right and wrong when they're in their early 20s, which was the age of some of these rioters."

Louise Johnson saved her hair salon in Queen Street from the mob by standing on the street in front on it and warning them to keep away.

The 52-year-old from Heath Town said: "There needs to be a lot more work done to stop kids leaving school uneducated. But their parents have to take responsibility for them."

The riots communities and victims panel also said introducing fines, which would then be used to help bring children up to the required standards, would help ensure the risk of future riots was "significantly reduced".

Chairman Darra Singh said: "We must give everyone a stake in society. There are people 'bumping along the bottom', unable to change their lives. When people don't feel they have a reason to stay out of trouble, the consequences can be devastating – as we saw last August."