What punishment ?

I agree with you Gillybob and it also goes for other destructions that these yobs cause. Instead of a slap on the wrist or even prison, send them to repair these sites whether or not they were responsible for their destruction.

They wouldn't be able to repair it - these play areas are subject to very strict H&S guidelines and are installed by specialists. They should definitely be made to pay for the repairs (or a hefty contribution at least).

That same thing happened at a park 2 miles away from me. The little sods were caught (probably didn't get anything other than a telling-off as they were teenagers. The park is lovely, with a lake (swans, ducks, etc), beautiful gardens and a cafe.

The actual playground was restored, at a huge cost to the council.

I wonder what possesses these kids to destroy things? I blame the parents for not teaching them about decency, respect and consideration of others. When my sons were teens, they either had their mates here to play music and computer games, or we took them to Karate and other clubs.

I agree SalsaQueen. If teens have interesting things to do in their spare time they wont go around destroying their environment. All my grandchildren are involved in sports, drama clubs etc and are as confused as I am that anyone would destroy a children's playground.
They think it is a mean thing to do to little children who enjoy the swings etc

I agree gilly they should be made to do some kind of community work . There is no excuse for this behaviour but unfortunately some parents can't afford for their kids to attend clubs etc but they can still teach them right from wrong .

Some people seem to have a problem with nice things and places and appear to have an urge to inflict damage or spoil them in some way. I'm particularly thinking of some of the home visits I used to do. The people I was visiting usually had very nice flats once you got inside them but even virtually new blocks had stairways grafittied and used asrubbish dumps and toilets. The lifts were virtual no go areas. I just couldn't understand why people ruined the common areas in this way. I felt so sorry for the decent residents.

If anyone had ever knocked on my door and told me my children broke something I would absolutely pay for it and be expecting them to do extra chores to make the money up. We have always been a working class family. Some people have just given up on life and have no self worth and that's what i see in youths that would do this. Unhappiness x

They should definitely pay for repair or replacement. Also what works well is apologising to the victims. How about a question and answer session where the children ask them why they did it and tell them what they think of them (modern day equivalent to the stocks!)

Thank you everyone for your opinions .
The thing I can’t understand is that this area is a very deprived part of the North East and the park was very popular with families with young children as it’s free to use . The yobs who have destroyed it have in all probability deprived children in their own family.

I grew up with very little and was a single parent for quite a while too, but my children didn’t go round destroying stuff “for the fun of it” so the deprivation excuse doesn’t wash with me .

I just don’t get why some teenagers feel the need to spoil or destroy everything that is good .

If they are caught ( unlikely?) they almost certainly won’t be able to make any meaningful contribution towards the very expensive repairs. However, they could do community service in the park - litter picking, weeding , etc. I like the idea of a meeting with representative parents and children. Do you remember the destruction of the model railway exhibition/ collectors fair?

Just looked that case up - the parents were ordered to pay compensation ( but not much).A funding page was set up and raised a lot

I think when/ if they are caught they should be made to pay ( or carry out unpaid work to the amount) for a replacement whether it takes them 3 months or 30 years . It is too easy to use the “poverty” excuse because ( in my example) they are targeting and hurting the people who are almost all in the same situation .

I do remember the destruction of the model railway . Disgusting.

Exactly Jane10 . What is it about some people who feel the need to destroy anything that is good ? I truly despair.

I feel very sorry for the children who loved and have lost their play park, simply because some mindless thugs thought it would be fun to set fire to it.

Agree with you 100% Gillybob. It seems to happening more and more, in all areas now. Just last month vandals broke into a tiny tots nursery and destroyed their play house. It had only been delivered a few days before and so some of the toddlers never even got the chance to play in it.

www.greenocktelegraph.co.uk/news/18195046.cruel-vandals-wreck-nurserys-playhouse---just-days-delivered/

And I'm still seething about the teenage yobs who got p***ed and broke into a church hall, the night before a model railway exhibition and totally trashed it, causing £10,000s of damage.

They need a posse of us grans to sort them out.

I think they should be made to rebuild it. The local scallies do community service. They've just trimmed back all the verges in this village and done a cracking job. I've also seen them working in the Humber Bridge Park and cleaning graffiti off walls (tagging not art). A lot of these kids just need something worthwhile to do instead of hanging around in groups egging each other on.