Vandals put lives at risk by damaging safety equipment at community pond

Buoyancy aids stationed around the water at Shotton Pond, near Peterlee, have been damaged and in some instances burned so that they cannot be deployed.

There have been 81 reports of safety equipment being damaged or going missing in the last three years – with 44 over the last year.

Durham County Council and County Durham and Darlington Fire and Rescue Service (CDDFRS) have installed metal locked cabinets to combat the vandalism.

But one buoyancy aid has already been broken into and the contents destroyed.

Cllr John Shuttleworth, the council’s cabinet member for rural communities, highways and community safety, said: “As a council we have a commitment to keeping our waterways safe, but these repeated acts of vandalism are putting the community at risk.

“The buoyancy aids at Shotton Pond have already proved to be vital, having been used in the past to rescue someone who had got into difficulty in the water.

“We are incredibly disappointed that the situation has got to a point where we have had to put measures in place to restrict access to the equipment and protect it from being damaged.”

Sarah Litt, community safety team leader at CDDFRS, said: “This equipment is there to deal with emergency situations and to see it getting repeatedly vandalised and destroyed is extremely disappointing.

“It is also extremely important that we keep reminding the public about the dangers of being near water and how to stay safe.”