An Inverness mum and her nine-year-old son have been praised for scrubbing off graffiti from a bus stop.
Emma-Jayne Williams and her son, Flynn, got their sponges out to clean up graffit after it had been there for three days.
After no longer being able to stand looking at the “eyesore” near her home in Ness Castle, Mrs Williams and her son got to scrubbing.
Taking around one and half hours to get the job done, and afterwards, the bus stop looked good as new.
People passing by praised the duo, and one lady even assisted in moving some trolleys from the bus stop back down to the supermarket.
After posting their hard work on Facebook, they received an overwhelming response with locals admiring young Flynn’s dedication.
Young Flynn was eager to get stuck into cleaning
Mrs Williams said: “It’s not nice to see that type of thing. We have a Facebook group where we can share the link to the Highland Council to report it, but I thought by the time it gets done, it could be Christmas.
“I just thought, I will take it on myself. I like a challenge, so I planned to go down and tackle it because it was an eyesore.
“It took a wee while, but eventually it did come off, and we were pleased with the result.
Her son, Flynn, was eager to get stuck into the cleaning and never stopped until the bus stop was graffiti-free.
After scrubbing the graffiti off, Mrs Williams notified the Facebook group that they had cleaned the bus stop, much to the delight of locals in the area.
To reward Flynn for his hard work, Miele’s Gelateria has invited him to get some ice cream, which he says will most likely be mint chocolate chip.
He said he felt happy after cleaning off the graffiti and didn’t know that people would be interested in his good deed but was looking forward to the ice cream.
‘It’s not going to be done very quickly’
Mrs Williams was reluctant to report the vandalism to the Highland Council given past experiences with either a lack of or lengthy response.
She had previously reported a pothole to the council’s reporting system but was frustrated with the “complicated process” involved.
She said: “When you see things sitting for a while, you just know it’s not going to be done very quickly.
“I’ve gone over a pothole in the past, which cost me £500 so I contacted them and took pictures at the roadside as you do, paid for my tire, told them what it cost and the response was ‘it hadn’t been reported’ before that so it wasn’t their problem.
“I still see that same pothole to this day, so they still haven’t filled that pothole in.”
Following that, Mrs Williams said she wasn’t waiting around for Highland Council to clean graffiti off a bus stop.
A Highland Council spokesman said: “We ask people to report a problem to the council by using the 24/7 online forms on our website at www.highland.gov.uk/report.
“Anyone that reports a problem will receive a call reference number via email on receipt of logging the problem.
“If they are not satisfied with the Council’s action then they can follow up by phoning the relevant Council service at the numbers listed on www.highland.gov.uk/contactus and quote the reference number.”
The experience has brought Mrs Williams and her son Flynn closer and plans to start a community group for people who don’t want to see graffiti in their areas.
While excited at the prospect of a community initiative to help clean up vandalism, Mrs Williams says it is a shame that it might come to that.
The actions of Mrs Williams and her son show a sense of community in Inverness and that the younger generation is just as involved in the community as ever.
Conversation