School vandals rack up £50k repairs bill

VANDALISM in city schools cost the taxpayer almost £50,000 to repair last year, new figures have revealed.

By The Newsroom

Published 16th Aug 2012, 13:25 BST

Edinburgh City Council paid out more than £47,000 in 2011 but ranked 24th out of 32 local authorities, with repairs costing 83p per head of school-age  population.

The total bill for Glasgow ran to ten times that of Capital, costing the council almost £500,000 – £6 per head of school population.

Across Scotland, more than £2.3 million was spent, with Falkirk the worst culprit at £12 per head.

Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “It is very worrying that such a considerable sum of money is being spent on repairing the results of mindless acts of criminal damage.

“Such acts are not only totally irresponsible, but they also cause a great deal of distress to local communities.”