Paint attack at playground
VANDALS left children in tears when they hurled tins of white paint all over a playground, leaving it unusable.
A MUM captured the heartbreaking look on her son’s face when he saw what vandals had done to a playground.
Jodie Nicholas had hoped to spend time in the park with Jayden, 20 months, on Sunday morning before she had to leave for work.
But when the pair arrived at the playground on Fairfield Avenue, Maesteg, at 10.15am they found that vandals had poured a large amount of white paint over the climbing frame and slide and along the ground, leaving the park unusable.
The paint cans had also been left behind.
Jodie, 22, from Maesteg, said: “Jayden and I thought we’d take a trip to the park before work. But someone had covered the whole park in white paint.
“There’s hardly anything around here for the kids as it is and then you see this.
“I was left with one heartbroken little boy because he couldn’t go to the park with his mother before I headed off to work all day.”
She added: “I genuinely worry for the world he’s growing up in.”
The playground is in independent councillor Ross Penhale-Thomas’ ward. He said: “I was sorry and annoyed to see the mindless vandalism to the play equipment.
“The park is well used by local families but unfortunately due to the wide coverage of the paint that had been thrown around, children weren’t able to use the equipment – an even bigger shame considering how nice the weather was.
“I would encourage anybody who might have seen suspicious behaviour to get in touch.
“It’s becoming increasingly difficult to ensure play areas are high on the agenda when it comes to spending, so to cause needless damage like this is all the more frustrating.”
A council spokesman said: “This mindless vandalism has caused disruptive and expensive damage at a time when the council needs to focus its increasingly limited resources on vital frontline services, but we’ve got some good news for Jayden.
“Our clean-up teams have managed to remove the paint from the slide and are using power washers and chemical solvents to get as much of it off the rest of the playground as possible, so it does not look as if any of the equipment will need to be removed entirely.
“The paint will still leave its mark, but Jayden will be able to use the playground again very soon despite the pointless vandalism carried out by a very selfish individual.
“Anyone who witnesses such behaviour taking place can help protect community facilities by reporting it to the authorities as soon as possible.”