Vandals destroy Lanarkshire school playground in summer of destruction

Yobs have caused hundreds of pounds of damage at a Lanarkshire primary school in a summer of destruction.

St Bride's Primary in Bothwell has been targeted over the last five weeks, with vandals repeatedly setting fire to items in the school grounds, tearing up rubber tires, pulling down panels in a storage shed, knocking over bins, and breaking glass bottles all over the playground.

And on Monday night, firefighters had to attend a hut fire at the school, marking the fifth Scottish Fire and Rescue Service call out in just over a month.

Local residents say police are aware of the destruction being caused and say a group of youths have been seen climbing fences and garage roofs to gain entry to the locked school grounds.

South Lanarkshire Council have also been notified and community wardens have been seen patrolling the area.

However, locals say the wardens have been attending during the night and not at key times, such as the early evenings, when the youths are in the school grounds.

One neighbour told Lanarkshire Live : "Local children have always scaled the fence to use the football pitch within St Bride's, but they never, ever cause any damage to the school.

"They play their football and leave.

"But these unknown youths have been climbing over the wall to the school all summer and leaving a trail of destruction behind them. It's disgusting.

"We have counted five times now that the fire brigade have had to attend to extinguish small blazes or for alarms going off and it is really sad to see the school grounds being destroyed.

"It's also a danger to the youths themselves, but they don't see it like that.

"A few weeks ago they destroyed a number of things in the school playground, threw them over the fence and set it alight in the nearby Jack's lane.

"Something has to be done to stop this as the young kids are due back at school in two weeks time and will be really upset when they see the mess and damage that has been done to their playground."

A Scottish Fire and Rescue Service spokesperson said: "We were alerted at 10.07pm on Monday, August 2 to reports of a building on fire at Ailsa Drive, Bothwell.

"Operations Control mobilised two appliances and firefighters extinguished a fire affecting a playground and nearby structure.

"There were no reported casualties and crews left after ensuring the area was made safe."

South Lanarkshire Council has been contacted for comment.

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