VANDALS are targeting a coach park, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to vehicles and putting school services at risk
VANDALS are targeting a coach park, causing thousands of pounds worth of damage to vehicles and putting school services at risk.Bosses at Weston coach operator Bakers Dolphin are calling for action from North Somerset Council to tackle the lack of security at the coach park in Locking Road. Vandals are repeatedly targeting Bakers Dolphin coaches, which are routinely parked overnight behind the firm's headquarters in Locking Road, Weston, its base for more than 100 years. The land on which the vehicles are parked is leased from North Somerset Council.Over the last year more than a dozen coaches have been attacked, leaving the owners with repair bills totalling more than £10,000.Bakers Dolphin managing director Tim Newcombe said: "There is not a week goes by without vandals doing some damage to our vehicles."Mr Newcombe has written to the council asking it to fence off the coach park from the public or to provide an overnight security guard."The scene that we found one morning a few weeks ago, when five coaches were attacked on one night was the last straw. It was a real mess and I made up my mind then that unless something was done to stop it we would have to move out."The attacks are becoming so frequent that the firm's coaches are often off the road, putting services to schools at risk.Mr Newcombe added: "This isn't just damaging to our business, these coaches take hundreds of North Somerset children to and from school each day and if they are put out of action by vandals, then the community suffers too."The council is investigating closing off a largely disused pedestrian gateway into the parking area from Drove Road, which could deter vandals from entering, improving the recently installed vehicle barrier and increasing security patrols.
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