A GANG of 20 yobs ran riot for hours at a Southend skate park, trashing a new bike shelter and disturbing neighbours.

The group, who took to the Warrior Square car park next to The Skatey McSkateface site, wreaked havoc in broad daylight for around three hours on Saturday afternoon, angry witnesses have said.

A bike shelter, not long installed by Southend Council, was vandalised during the chaos, with the group making a large hole through the top of the shelter and spraying bold graffiti on the back.

A resident, who wished to remain anonymous, says his wife was even forced to turn her music up loud to drown out the racket they were making outside their home.

The 66-year-old, who lives next to the site, said: “I’d been out to work and came in to hear a load of loud banging and crashing.

"I asked my wife what on earth is going on down there, and apparently they had been trying to break the shelter for the past hour-and-a-half in broad daylight. 

“Despite council promises of regular patrols in the area and CCTV coverage, they ended up going at it for hours under the direct line of sight of a camera. The trouble is they had masks and hoods on.

“Sadly the facility is now dangerous and it means the majority of well behaved skaters will end up missing out.”

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The resident expressed their outrage that yobs are even gathering while the country remains in a national lockdown.

He added: “It’s such a shame when they’ve invested so much money into the skate park, it has been a fantastic success.”

Martin Terry, councillor for community safety and customer contact, has assured the cycle shelter has now been made safe.

Despite monitoring CCTV, he says that on this occasion “no incident was viewed”. 

He said: “Southend Council has been made aware of the anti-social behaviour that occurred at Warrior Square skate park on Saturday, which saw the recently installed bike shelter vandalised. 

"The cycle shelter has now been made safe to prevent any injury to the public.

“The council’s Community Safety Unit patrols the area regularly two to three times a day to provide a visible presence in the area. However, no suspicious activity was seen when the community safety officers undertook patrols at or near this site, and no reports or complaints were made to the team.

"In addition to our patrol team, we have monitored CCTV which covers the majority of the borough, which in the past, has assisted Essex Police in solving criminal activity. On this occasion, no incident was viewed or reported in this area.

“We urge all residents and businesses to report anti-social behaviour to Essex Police.”

Essex Police are aware and liaising with Southend Council, who installed the bike shelter, to establish the scale of the damage.

Call 101 and quote 1070 of February 27.