Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Reckless driver leaves city venue an ‘eyesore’
The grass around Mains Castle, in Caird Park, was torn up by a vehicle, with the scarring described as a “complete eyesore”.
Dean Duncan, who runs Castle Functions Dundee which is based at Mains, today told the Tele that a wedding party’s photographs had been ruined as a result of the damage.
He said: “I think that it happened on Friday night and we had a wedding party here on Sunday.
“They have tried to get up the hill and then rolled back down it.
“Then they have gone up at the stairs. That is where the bride steps out of her car. The grass was totally messed up. It was in all the pictures.
“I think that it must have been young people that have done it.
“This could be bad for the business — it is in everyone’s pictures.
“We have three other weddings in April and people are paying good money for the venue and the pictures get taken at the main gate and the stairs.
“This will be in nearly every picture that they take outside — it is a complete eyesore.
“It isn’t fair on people who have booked the venue.
“It is like a 4x4 or something is what was driven — it has pulled the grass right up.”
Mr Duncan said that issues with drivers in the park had become more prevalent recently.
He added: “If it isn’t cars, then it is motorbikes or quads.
“It has reached the stage where if you hear it outside, you don’t even pay attention to it. It happens every day without fail.”
Mains Castle, believed to have been built in 1562 by Sir David Graham, was restored in the early 1980s and is a popular location in the city for weddings.
The castle consists of several buildings surrounding a courtyard, although several of the original western buildings no longer exist.
The castle was the subject of a poem by Dundee poet William McGonagall in his work The Castle of Mains.
Dean took over the castle in August 2014 and was awarded Wedding Venue of the Year for the Central Region at this year’s Scottish Wedding Awards.
Mains Castle holds other functions as well as weddings.
It played host to Castle Horrors, an immersive “live” experience where the last remaining Dundonians battle against the odds to locate a serum to save humanity.
THE OWNER of a Dundee wedding venue has blasted the reckless driver who ripped up turf with a car.