Scheme to safeguard young people during TT expands

The initiative has been expanded to offer support to all young people this year

A scheme to support vulnerable young people during the Isle of Man TT period has been expanded to include all children.

St Christopher's, which supports those in care, has run the Streetwise initiative for 15 years, but will this year provide the service for everyone under the age of 18.

The drive will see members of the charity situated near the Douglas Promenade war memorial to advise or guide young people who find themselves in a vulnerable position between 31 May to 9 June.

The charity's head of children's residential services at Steve Taylor said staff would offer support to anyone who was struggling without any judgement.

'Challenging time'

Mr Taylor said: "We devised a service specifically for TT week where we could help keep our young people safe" which was through having contact with them and making sure they are supported."

While the TT could be "fantastic" for young people, it could also be "an extremely challenging time" due to the "party atmosphere" and its "temptations" and the risk of being taken advantage of, he said.

"If you are in a situation that you are struggling with, we are not going to judge you, all we are interested in is safeguarding young people," he said.

The service has been expanded after the charity received positive feedback about the impact the initiative had on young people in care in previous years, and has been backed by Manx Care, the police and the local authority.

The charity's representatives would be available between 16:00 and 02:00 BST each day to act as a "safe space", and would be able to liaise with other agencies to ensure the welfare of those in need of help, Mr Taylor said.