Blaze ruins park ride (From Gazette Series)

Blaze ruins park ride

A PIECE of play equipment is in ashes following the latest vandalism incident in Wotton-under-Edge.

Residents had hoped the plague of damage, resulting in windows in public buildings being smashed on an almost weekly basis, had come to an end.

But the weekend saw yet another attack, which is likely to hit taxpayers' pockets. This time a bouncy motorbike ride in Wotton Town Council-owned Symn Lane play area was torched.

The damage was discovered on Monday morning by the Blue Coat Primary School caretaker and reported to the council.

A container smelling of petrol was found near the burnt-out £500 ride, which had only recently been installed.

One resident said townspeople had hoped town centre vandalism had stopped.

She said: "This is such a shame - the town seemed to be getting calmer. The young children love that playground, it's really well used, whoever did this probably used it themselves when they were younger."

It is believed the fire took place sometime between 3pm on Friday and 9am on Monday. But residents in Symn Lane and Venns Acre told the Gazette they were unaware of any incident.

Sgt Neil Gibbs said: "It's very difficult to believe that there were no witnesses to this crime. We can only solve crimes and arrest people if the public come forward with information.

"We were in Wotton over the weekend but we can't be in all places at once." Anyone with information is asked to contact police on 0845 0901234 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.