VANDALS caused between £1,500 and £2,000 worth of damage to benches and picnic tables in Tavistock Meadows on Tuesday night, with the area being covered in broken glass bottles.
Town clerk Roger Howard said the vandals had hit the Meadows ?in a big way?. The area had to be cordoned off as the ground was covered in broken glass from bottles.
?Council staff are clearing away the broken glass remains of 50 bottles of wine, and we hope to make the area safe before the Easter break ? building eight new seats and making-up new picnic tables by the weekend.?
Mr Howard said some residents had said the ?festivities? had begun at 9pm and carried on into the night. ?We all think it?s a shame and the deputy mayor is aghast,? he said.
?Surely someone must have seen all these people misbehaving. Why didn?t someone do anything about it?? he asked.
Sgt Adrian Healy, of Tavistock Police Station, said they had a call from a member of the public at around 11.25pm to say the damage was occurring and had been going on for around 20 minutes.
?Unfortunately, when we got there, there was nobody there,? he said. They believed at least three young people were involved, and nine benches were smashed and all the picnic tables ruined, as well as the area being covered in glass.
?The Meadows is one of the places we regularly patrol, but if something like this is happening then we need to be told straight away,? he said. The police are appealing for witnesses to the crime, which has log number 1677 of 15/4, and anyone with any information is asked to contact Tavistock Police Station.