Brown's Bay vandalism is 'worst borough has seen'

The facilities were broken into and trashed overnight on Saturday after a crowd - said by council officials to be up to 700 people - descended on the area earlier that evening. The Larne Times can exclusively reveal the extent of the damage - said to amount to more than 2,500.

In an orgy of destruction, the vandals smeared excrement on the walls, painted graffiti, smashed toilet cisterns, ripped out electric hand dryers and destroyed soap dispensers and toilet roll holders.

Philip Thompson, director of environmental services for Larne council, said the incident was the worst case of vandalism ever seen in the borough and added that the toilets would be out of service for the rest of the week. Provision is being made at Ballylumford until the repairs are completed.

Mr Thompson told the Larne Times that the attendant at Brown’s Bay had been verbally abused when he attempted to lock the toilets at 10.15pm. Once inside the men’s toilet, the attendant discovered one person carrying out minor damage to the facilities.

Mr Thompson added: “After this, the toilets were locked and the attendant left. It was some time later that the solid mahogany door was kicked in and the vandalism was carried out, so the extent of the damage was not discovered until the next morning.

“I am very disappointed that this has happened, as we have worked hard to provide good facilities that have been recognised as having a five-star standard. The attendant who was working that night is now very reluctant to go back to that shift and the safety of our staff is paramount.

“We want to ensure that council employee’s do not feel threatened in their place of work.”

Mr Thompson added that police had been called out to Brown’s Bay at 8pm on Saturday after receiving reports of cars rallying in the area. He added: “Due to the large number of people, police decided to observe the situation as they did not feel they had the resources to cope with the crowd.

“They were called out again at about midnight after reports that fighting had broken out, but when they arrived the area was clear.”

Police are appealing for anyone with information about the fire to contact them on 0845 600 8000. Alternatively, information can be given anonymously to the Crimestoppers charity on 0800 555 111.