SEAFRONT businesses are set to start up their own radio link system after being plagued by antisocial behaviour during the summer season.

A string of incidents has convinced business owners to club together to pay for a system to warn each other about troublemakers.

One owner, Martin Richardson, of the Happidrome arcade, in Marine Parade, Southend, said he will go one step further and shame offenders on Facebook by releasing CCTV images.

He said: “We want to prevent antisocial behaviour and crime and offer a safe environment for people to visit.

“This year has been horrendous for antisocial behaviour, we have had people who have no respect for anyone, not even their own kids.”

The radio system will be in addition to the existing Town Link system shared with the High Street but solely for the use of seafront businesses.

Mr Richardson said: “The police don’t always want to come to these things and they are not always police matters.

“But we need to look out for each other as a community. It’s such a shame that people have got a lack of respect.”

Mr Richardson said just a few of the incidents he has dealt with this summer include parents who allowed their children to urinate into a pot in the arcade.; families getting changed out of swimwear inside a photo booth; a man strolling around the venue with a cannabis joint behind his ear; and a mother who refused to pick up her son’s dropped food and instead trod it into the carpet.

Other businesses have been affected by people using stolen bank cards and trying to pass off fake currency.

There was also an incident in the Las Vegas Grill last week where two women had a violent argument during the middle of the day after brushing past each other.

Mr Richardson said the final straw came when two “slot-rakers” - who take loose change from machines - were ejected after stealing a pot full of 2p pieces from a four-year-old boy.

Mr Richardson said: “It was probably about 40p in total but that’s not the point.

“They come down here to steal from kids. It is absolutely disgusting.

“Every single time that someone comes into my arcade and does that sort of thing I am going to put it on Facebook.”

The radio system is inexpensive and will be paid for by the business owners themselves.