A wave of businesses in a popular Birmingham shopping district woke up to a “mass blanketing” of graffiti on Thursday morning, July 11. Shocked businesses arrived to open up their premises to find graffiti saying “LLT. RIP Tomo” scrawled in white and green spray on shutters, signs and in one case, a front door.
It was understood the graffiti was linked to a teenage motorcyclist named locally as ‘Tomo’, who was killed in a crash with a car in Shard End on July 4. Police said the bike, which was reported stolen, had failed to stop for officers before the collision.
One independent business at the Radleys, which is just over two miles from the crash site, told BirminghamLive there was a ‘time and a place’ for tributes, but defacing local, independent businesses was ‘not the way to do it’.
READ MORE: Tributes for teenager ‘Tomo’ after stolen bike crash with car
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The business manager, who would not be named, said the graffiti had been reported to the police on 101. He said his shop had not been vandalised in this spree, but he had encountered his fair share of anti-social issues over the years.
The trader said: “The whole of a local shopping district, The Radleys, has been vandalised overnight with spray paint paying homage to the young man killed in the bike collision. There’s a time and place for paying your respects to somebody and defacing local, independent businesses is not the way to do it.”
Describing what he saw, he said: “When I walked around it was absolutely everywhere. It was plastered on the shutters, someone’s door, it was shocking to see. We have had this store for more than 40 years, there’s a time and a place to pay your respects. There are various ways you can do it in a nice way but de-facing someone’s property is not the way to do it.”
The trader said he saw more than 20 montages or signs defaced, but added: “It could be extended even further than I have seen. We tend to get along well with a lot of the community here. I suppose there are other people who do find it a lot worse. I have never seen a mass blanketing on this scale.”
BirminghamLive contacted Birmingham City Council to ask if they would be removing the graffiti. It did not provide a comment but referred us to the graffiti removal section on its website. West Midlands Police was also approached for comment.