Calls to secure derelict yard

A blaze at an abandoned shipyard has sparked calls to secure the site amid fears it has become a “hive” of drinking, vandalism and fly-tipping.

Concerned locals say primary school-age children are among regular visitors to the industrial wasteland in Buckie which is littered with a mix of beer cans and broken glass and scarred with graffiti.

Just minutes before the latest fire, children as young as 10 were seen playing behind fences near a derelict toilet block on Blantyre Terrace, which is now just a charred shell.

Police, it can be revealed, did not attend the incident because it was treated as “non-suspicious”.

But yesterday locals laughed off the response and called on officers to step up their presence in the area in the belief it may deter children playing

“They just treat itasa playground”

in the “dangerous” quayside site.

Nearby resident Gary Smith explained that dozens of children at a time can descend on the shipyard when the schools are off.

He said: “They just treat it as a playground. There’s loads of them swarming all over it at times.

“It’s usually not malicious, just breaking bottles and things. I don’t know how you can stop them though.”

Fly-tipping has become commonplace at the dock with furniture and carpets strewn across the concrete.

Three fire engines were sent to the fire at the former shipyard on Thursday evening.

Flames burst through the roof of the abandoned council-owned toilet block. It is understood that trespassers may have gained entrance through the rear of the building.