Brian Paddick spoke to Tottenham traders along the High Road.

London Mayoral candidate Brian Paddick has called on the Metropolitan Police to apologise to the people of Tottenham for the way the handled the riots.

The Liberal Democrats’ London Mayoral candidate told the Journal the force should apologise for “the way that they let things get out of control” during the unrest last year.

The 53-year-old, a former Met deputy assistant commissioner, took a tour around Tottenham to find out how residents and traders were coping on Monday, exactly six months since the riots began on August 6.

Kicking off his tour at Broadwater Farm Community Centre, Mr Paddick then visited businesses along the High Road.

He criticised incumbent Mayor Boris Johnson and Labour candidate Ken Livingstone for not visiting Tottenham on the anniversary, saying: “They should be here promoting Tottenham as a good place, somewhere where you can come and shop and be safe. I think they are letting Londoners down by not being here.”

Mr Paddick was also critical of the Met’s controversial stop-and-search policy, describing it as others have as a contributing factor towards “the anger that people saw on the streets of Tottenham” last August.

He insisted that among his key goals as Mayor would be an attempt to “get the police and the people of Tottenham on the same side” and to help remove the “stigma now regrettably attached to Tottenham”.

A Met Police spokesman declined to comment.

The 2012 London mayoral election will be held on May 3.