EXCLUSIVE: Bedlam Paintball in Winchburgh dealing with 'daily' antisocial attacks
The business hopes the kids vandalising buildings and equipment will think about the consequences their actions have
A Scottish paintball company says its dealing with vandals on almost a day-to-day basis at it's site in Winchburgh.
Bedlam Paintball, which has locations across the country, is exclusively telling Forth 1 News about an onslaught of antisocial behaviour by local children.
The company has had its equipment, props, signage and buildings damaged, graffitied and set on fire on numerous occasions - forcing bosses to cancel on customers over the weekend.
Area manager Derek O'Donnell said: "Over the last year, we've had kids come down to the sites - vandalizing it and ruining it.
"It's a day-to-day situation to try and keep the site up to the standards it should be.
"We had a big church on our map which was completely ruined.
"That was about £20,000 worth of damage alone there.
"Where we get our laundry picked up, they set all that on fire. There's graffiti, our big 'Bedlam' signs, they put them all on fire.
"The big scary thing about it is safety - the buses we use as props have been burnt down.
"These kids are going on top of the roofs of burnt-down buses. They're going to damage themselves.
"They're going to hurt themselves and that's really, really scary because the last thing I want to do is walk onto the site and see a kid who's hurt themselves."
'Education is the way forward'
Bosses have now invested £10,000 in a new CCTV system to try and deter youths from entering the property.
But despite the tens of thousands of pounds worth of damage to the business, Derek thinks the vandals need to be educated, not punished.
He added: "I would rather work with these kids than get them in trouble.
"We're working with Winchburgh and Broxburn Academy. We want to offer them work experience, stuff like that.
"We've got a lot of schools and a lot of groups that come here, and we do a lot for the community.
"It's just making it hard when these kids are coming down here enough daily and ruining the site itself."
Derek hopes the kids will consider the impact their actions are having on the business, adding that if they want to come to the site for an organised barbecue to have a laugh and chat, rather than sneak in - they are welcome.