Vandals wreck kiosk

Having previously broken several windows in the phone box on the Shankill estate, vandals returned to splatter the box with paint and cut off the telephone receiver, leading to the possibility of removing the kiosk from the estate.

The assistant postmaster went with the police to investigate the damage. He said: “This kiosk has been the source of several bogus emergency calls.”

To have removed the kiosk would have, however, met with strong objections from residents, with the nearest phone box several hundred yards away.

The postmaster said: “If a genuine call for an ambulance is needed in the middle of the night, the public must be facilitated.”

He added that the culprits were a discredit to the community and “if someone should be dying and there is no phone, it’s on their heads.

“These vandals have no moral code and will be severely dealt with when they are caught.”