£250,000 bill for schools vandalism

VANDALS caused almost £250,000 of damage to schools in Tayside and Fife last year, new figures have revealed.

Fife’s bill totalled £192,070 for acts of wanton destruction at buildings in which children are educated, the highest in Scotland.

A Freedom of Information request by the Scottish Conservatives revealed deliberate damage to schools across Scotland cost £859,011 last year, the highest in three years.

Liz Smith, the party’s shadow education secretary, said: “It’s very worrying that vandals continue to regard schools as fair game.

“Our councils are hardpressed enough without having to fork out for needless repairs.

“People ought to remember these are supposed to be safe environments for children to learn and teachers to operate. That cannot be the case when they arrive in the morning to find damage to their space.

“Anyone caught vandalising schools should be dealt with firmly to ensure similar behaviour is not repeated in future.”

The Scotland-wide bill has exceeded £4.5 million over the last five years but the total is likely to be even higher, with some local authorities — including Dundee and Edinburgh — unable to put a figure on the cost of vandalism.

The amount paid out by councils had been falling year-on-year but 2015-16 saw spikes both locally and nationally.