Stories that gripped Croydon in 1978

CROYDON'S Surrey street market was thrown into chaos when a fire swept through a storeroom above Caters' supermarket.

Startled shoppers were evacuated from the busy store and stalls were moved away as police cordoned off a section of the street to try and tackle the flames.

No one was injured as the market was fairly empty as most of the stallholders had gone home.

One market trader said: "I saw lots of black smoke and first thought it was a barrow on fire, but I soon saw it was a lot more serious."

GANGS of children, some as young as four, terrorised elderly residents in a West Croydon block of flats.

Dubbed the "Forgotten Prisoners", the residents were too scared to go out having seen reports in the media of the murder of an 84-year-old grandmother in Wolverhampton, the West Midlands.

The caretaker of the flats told the Advertiser: "I chased some young kids out of the block just four days ago.

"They came back with loads of their friends and chased me up the road, throwing bricks and stones."

A TEENAGER tried to persuade South Croydon residents about the benefits of keeping rats as pets.

Sue Vye, 17, from Selsdon Avenue spoke to the Advertiser to stick up for the rodents after they received some bad press.

Sue first became interested in rats as an 11-year-old and kept a family of nine at the bottom of her garden.

"People think of them as being nasty, because they are often seen around slums and other run down areas," said Sue, who occasionally gave her rats shampoo baths.

TEACHERS evacuated nearly 200 pupils after a child started a fire in Ridgeway Infants School, Southcote Road, Sanderstead.

The blaze gutted a classroom and filled the corridors with smoke, causing damage estimated at more than £25,000.

More than 20 firemen fought the blaze, having to smash through roof tiles to reach the flames.

Neighbour Irene Millington said:

"Suddenly a thick black cloud billowed out. It came up to my window and obliterated the school."

A child, who admitted setting fire to books in the classroom was considered too young to prosecute.

SIX thousand homes in Croydon were plunged into darkness after a cat electrocuted itself on a high-power transformer.

The animal climbed up a substation in Beddington Lane and plugged itself into 11,000 volts causing a blackout which lasted nearly three quarters of an hour.

A spokesman for South Eastern Electricity Board said: "This was an isolated incident.

"Cats don't usually climb that high.

"Fortunately, only a cat could have got to where this one did.

"Unfortunately, all that was left of this one was its tail."