Hairdresser's fury after vandals strike salon for third time

Vandals have repeatedly targeted Zizzors hairdressers in Bonnyrigg, stealing the "Z" from its sign for the third time in six months and leaving its owner baffled.

The latest theft happened earlier this month when the aluminium Z - measuring about 2ft across - was ripped down from the Dundas Street salon and vandalised before being recovered in a nearby garden.

Morag Sanders, 42, who runs the salon, said: "It's a nightmare and I'm fed up with it. This time I am having the sign redesigned so they can't reach it."

Other letters across the shopfront also came off and are missing. She added: "The Z hangs further down than the rest of the sign, it's just below the window, but it's still a good 8ft up. It's a new business - we've just been here since August. It's awful.

"Either somebody has got it in for me, because I have worked in a few salons in Bonnyrigg, or it's youngsters who have nothing better to do than come out of the pub drunk and steal it. It just seems to be our shop that's been targeted.

"It's obviously happening after midnight. I don't know what to do."

The sign was snapped off for the first time in September, just after the salon opened.

After the second incident - which took place in January - Ms Sanders decided to replace the plastic sign with an aluminium one, which would be harder to pull down. The vandaism has cost the salon 1500 in all to repair.

"The whole thing has put a damper on the business - it's really deflating when you drive up to work and it's gone again.

"It's hard enough when you start out on a new venture."

Ms Sanders, who has worked as a hairdresser for 25 years, said she believed there must be more than one culprit - with one sitting on the other's shoulders to reach the sign.

She said: "It would have taken some strength to pull it down. We're just having to pay for it each time, because it is cheaper to do that than go down the insurance route."

In recent weeks, the salon has also had eggs thrown at the window and stink bombs thrown inside by young boys.

Junior hairdresser Clare Milligan, 16, said: "We're very angry. We don't know if it's people coming out of the pub trying to swing on it or if it's children coming to vandalise it.

"How could someone do this to somebody else's property?"

Police are investigating and are appealing for witnesses.