A MAN who suffered serious injuries following an assault outside a Tavistock late night food shop claims police are failing to do enough to curb crime and disorder in the town. But the force this week rejected the allegation made by Daniel Healy, of Chillaton. Mr Healy was seriously assaulted in a fracas outside the Devon Kebab House in King Street in May, suffering a broken nose and facial injuries. He claimed police on the scene were slow to react to the incident and that although he wanted to press charges he was 'persuaded not to' by the police. Two weeks ago the kebab shop had its licence curtailed to an opening time until 12.30am because of complaints by residents in the area that it attracted high levels of noise, crime and disorder. Mr Healy, 24, said he was involved in a dispute inside the kebab shop which led to him being struck from behind when he left the premises. Police gave chase to the assailant, but failed to catch the attacker. Mr Healy, a development technologist with Ambrosia in Lifton, said: 'The day after my attack, feeling disconcerted and semi-awake, the inspecting policeman persuaded me not to press charges. 'I deliberated changing my mind, in an attempt to act by example, but I was ignored as the PC failed to show up for an appointment he had arranged. When I finally was able to contact the police I was told that the time period was now too late to warrant a good case.' Mr Healy said he sympathised with the kebab shop owners and said it was not for them to deal with drunken customers but it was the responsibility of the police. 'In reality, we should maybe look to our police for better protection to prevent Tavistock turning from a very popular, respectable town into a haven for youth mob culture and violence.' But Tavistock police reject the allegation they did not take his claims seriously. They confirmed they logged and investigated the incident and talked to Mr Healy and a number of witnesses at the time before the decision was taken by him not to pursue the case. Sgt Bob Hughes said if Mr Healy wanted the incident to be reinvestigated the police would be willing to look into it again. He said officers were well aware of the rowdiness in the West Street and King Street area and that was why police and special constables were patrolling these areas in force at peak times. Sgt Hughes said: 'When we are there we do the best we can with resources available as 40 per cent of violent crime occurs in the area of West Street, King Street and Bank Square.' Police figures show that in Tavistock, recordings of violent crimes were reduced by 7.5 per cent in the last 12 months, compared with a target of 5.5 per cent in the Devon and Cornwall police and more than three times better than the rate, 2.3 per cent, for South West Devon police area.