Garstang skatepark CCTV ‘wiped’

VANDALS whose pictures may have been captured on a CCTV camera causing more than £1,000 damage to Garstang’s skatepark look likely to escape detection - because the footage has been wiped.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Jul 2011, 12:47 BST

Council officials admitted this week that images of the vandalism attack had been automatically erased 24 hours after the incident - before council officials had viewed the tape.

Wyre Council officials, who are in touch with the police about the vandalism said: “The CCTV camera trained on the skate park is independent and not part of the town centre scheme or monitored by the police. Images were recorded, but because it is on a 24-hour timer, they were wiped over before they could be looked at.”

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The council added it now intends to look again at the way images from the CCTV camera, attached to Windsor Road leisure centre, are monitored.

The council announced this week that while the ramp would remain out of action it was hoped to re-open the rest of the skatepark.

A spokeswoman said: “The ramp will be removed completely on Thursday (tomorrow) so that the rest of the park can be reopened. We will be looking at repair options and hope to do the work in-house where possible. Because this decision has yet to be made, we cannot give a timescale.”

The CCTV camera was set up at a cost of several thousand pounds shortly after the £80,000 skatepark opened about seven years ago.

Nearby residents have regularly complained that the park has become a haven for drug misuse, drinking and vandalism.

Related topics:CCTVGarstangWyre Council