Nursery owner hits out at ‘mindless vandalism’

VANDALS have caused hundreds of pounds’ worth of “mindless” damage to a Dundee nursery.

JoJo’s Nursery on Old Glamis Road was targeted by a group of yobs — believed to be aged about 15 — leaving its owner “disheartened”.

The Kirkton facility, which has been open less than a year, had its garden stomped across, shed broken and some bikes were damaged.

Owner Jo Slater, while upset over the incident, was hopeful the nursery’s high-quality CCTV system had captured the culprits’ faces.

She said: “I’m hopeful they will be caught. I think the police know who they are and the CCTV is quite clear.

“They have destroyed the shed as the roof is buckled in and we’re going to have to replace all the helmets — the CCTV shows the kids throwing them about.

“Some of the bikes have been damaged too, just mindless vandalism.

“It’s really disappointing. They were riding around on our bikes before throwing them about.

“If they wanted to play, all they had to do was ask.”

Jo said that neighbours in the area were fantastic and had been the ones to alert her.

She added: “I got a call on Saturday afternoon to say there were kids causing trouble at the nursery.

“I rushed round, after calling 101, but the kids had gone by the time I got there. They weren’t able to access the building — that’s far too secure. But it’s impossible to fully protect the garden.

“It’s just so disheartening that some youngsters find it such fun to try to ruin someone else’s hard work and effort.

“As a new business, we want to be spending our money on the play area and improvements rather than having to rebuild what’s been damaged and on financing higher and higher walls.

“It’s frustrating too. The kids can’t ride the bikes until they are fixed and we have new helmets and my staff can’t even go in the shed until I’ve checked it’s safe.

“We’ve not had problems here before. We have wonderful neighbours, fantastic staff and parents.

“I just hope this is an isolated incident and not the start of bigger problems.”

She said the nursery would respond by installing further security measures.

Meanwhile, Happy Days Nursery nearby also suffered vandalism at the weekend. The owners declined to comment when approached by the Tele.

A Police Scotland spokeswoman said young people were seen in the garden of JoJo’s Nursery but left prior to police arrival.

The damage to the roof.