Aberdeen City Council has been forced to spend thousands of pounds on repairing acts of vandalism at bus stops.
A Freedom of Information Request obtained by the Press and Journal, has highlighted the damage caused to bus stops and other amenities.
Between October 2017 and last month, the council had to fix damaged bus stops on 45 occasions.
The authority has since confirmed that, of its £97,000 budget for the maintenance of public transport infrastructure, around 10% is spent on repairing damage caused by members of the public, rather than on regular wear and tear.
The nature of the damage in and around city bus stops included broken publicity boards, graffiti and smashed glass.
Other instances, such as the knocking down of bus poles, is thought to have been caused by careless drivers.
While the city centre has been hit with the majority of repair bills, with multiple call outs to Union Street and King Street for example, the crime is not specific to one area.
Lang Stracht was hit more times than Union Street with repairs needing to be done for damage to bus stop panels and the cleaning of graffiti on different bus shelters.
Jesmond Drive and Victoria Road frequently required repair works and Woodside proved to be popular with vandals with bus stops on roads such as Hilton Drive and Clifton Road being damaged multiple times.
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Since September 2016, the council has been required to carry out repair work on bus shelters 123 times.
While it may seem small in the grand scheme of things, the cost is taking money away from other projects funded by the council.
An ACC spokesman said: “We have a budget of £97k for the maintenance of public transport infrastructure and information in Aberdeen, of which approximately 10% is spent annually on repairing damage.
“Damage costs typically range from £60-100 for bent pole repair to £150-200 for damaged panels or advertising casings.
“We would emphasise that damage can be a result of wear and tear and vehicles striking bus stops as well as vandalism, and other than in the case of graffiti which is dealt with in our normal cleaning process, we cannot always identify the cause of damage.
“Regardless of the cause, we would always encourage members of the public to contact us if they spot damage to our bus shelters, so we can undertake repairs as soon as possible.”
Since September 2016, a total of 42 panels, which typically hold bus times and other information, have been broken at bus stops.
The council estimates that between £150 and £200 is spent to repair such damage, which means the broken panels have cost the local authority at least £6,300 to fix.
With the same repair costs suggested for damage caused to advertising panels and publicity boards, that number rises to a further £3,600 as a result of the 24 call-outs since 2016.
Added to the supposed amount of £480 spent on broken bus poles, typically caused by careless driving, the amount spent on wilful damage comes to over £10,000.
And it is likely that that number could be even higher, due to the further variety of repair work the council has carried out. at city bus shelters.
On roads such as Inverurie Road and Jesmond Drive, a courtesy light was damaged, and other bus stops were reported to have broken seats.
And Bremner Terrace’s bus stop saw rather original repair work needing done – after it was reported that a hole had emerged in the shelter roof.
Around £10,000 has been spent on repairing damage at city bus stops in the last two years.
Since September 2016, a total of 42 panels, which typically hold bus times and other information, have been broken at bus stops.
The council estimates that between £150 and £200 is spent to repair such damage, which means the broken panels have cost the local authority at least £6,300 to fix.
With the same repair costs suggested for damage caused to advertising panels and publicity boards, that number rises to a further £3,600 as a result of the 24 call-outs since 2016.
Added to the supposed amount of £480 spent on broken bus poles, typically caused by careless driving, the amount spent on wilful damage comes to over £10,000.
It is likely that that number could be even higher, due to the further variety of repair work the council has carried out. at city bus shelters
On roads such as Inverurie Road and Jesmond Drive, a courtesy light was damaged, and other bus stops were reported to have broken seats.
And Bremner Terrace’s bus stop saw rather original repair work needing done – after it was reported that a hole had emerged in the shelter roof.
Ian Yuill, local councillor for the Airyhall, Broomhill and Garthdee ward, recently contacted the council in regards to a particularly damaged bus stop on Auchinyell Road.
A glass window of the bus shelter was severely damaged, and he said: “I have urged council staff to repair the broken window of the bus shelter on Auchinyell Road between its junctions with Garthdee Drive and Auchinyell Terrace.”
