A CLASS of university students caught a couple having sex in a car in daylight on the Downs. The amorous couple were parked on the Circular Road in between two vans and so the birds and the bees formed a surprise feature of the students’ tour of nature in the area.
The car was parked next to the pavement along a row of vans which people live in. The prominent public display of affection has led to a warning that some people on the Downs “do things that you might not ordinarily do”.
Anna Stevens, learning manager at the Avon Gorge and Downs Wildlife team, told the Downs committee last month: “When I was out with a group of first-year university students, we had an incident where we were walking on the Circular Road, right next to the vehicles that are parked on the side. Right in between two of the big vans, we had a small car.
“As we walked past, we realised that there were two people having sex in the car. And I obviously have 17 students with me, by the time we realise that it’s too late. They weren’t young, I could have been with 10-year-olds, but I wasn’t, thank goodness.
“It’s just something that people need to be aware of, if they don’t go up on the site a lot. When you have got people living in a place where they feel that’s a place where it’s their home, it gives this idea that you can do things that you might not ordinarily do. They were in a public place, in broad daylight.”
While it’s unclear when the couple were caught, the warning came as Bristol City Council declared some parts of the Downs a public health risk. Two leading councillors said they had evidence of sites being used as “organised toilet facilities, filled with human waste”.
An unnamed member of the public added: “I very strongly feel that Anna and her guests need protecting, and we’re not protecting them.”
By Alex Seabrook, Local Democracy Reporting Service