Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Group calls for help
Elderly members are left feeling intimidated by gang
Vulnerable and elderly members of the Ardler Environment Group have apparently suffered weeks of intimidation by groups on bikes outside the Ardler Complex.
Graham Cross from the organisation claimed vandals have deliberately damaged beds of plants, paid for by the group without any external funding. And he claims the behaviour is making members, some of whom are wheelchair-bound, think twice about attending group activities.
The 73-year-old, who recently suffered a brain haemorrhage, said: “We’ve been getting a lot of kids wrestling in our garden and damaging the plants.
“We’ve got to pay for these without any funding and it’s not as if we just go to B&Q and get them, we have them shipped in.
“We’ve got a lot of elderly members and two of them are in wheelchairs so it’s not great that they have to be greeted with groups on bikes.
“I’ve only just got out of hospital myself for a brain haemorrhage so it’s not what I need.
“It’s intimidating for other members and a few of them have said that they’re concerned about going but we’ve told them that they shouldn’t need to worry about that.”
Mr Cross added: “We’re going to try to get a look at the CCTV cameras to see if we can identify them.
“This has been going on since last August.
“We had a problem before with vandalism and groups.
“It’s started to flare up again so we’re looking to see if the police can help us bring a stop to it.”
Police Scotland were approached for comment, but had not responded at the time of going to press.
A COMMUNITY group is calling for police to take action after claiming members are being terrorised by gangs of youths.