VANDALS are covering the town centre in ugly graffiti while shops are shut – and one business owner is fed up with the ‘morons’ ruining the look of the area.

Shop owner and South Swindon parish councillor Vince Ayris claims he’s seen more and more tags and spray-painted scribbles popping up on walls, street signs and buildings since the stay at home guidelines returned and most of the area’s retailers temporarily closed.

He hit out at the spray can-wielding criminals who, he believes, are taking advantage of the fact that far fewer people are filling the usually-busy streets to create unsightly scrawls without worrying about getting caught in the act.

Some of the many examples included the concrete above Santander, the side of the Havelock Square Iceland, several tags all over the Tented Market, and on the shutters of the space that used to be a Sainsbury’s.

Mr Ayris gave a rallying cry for people to work together to tidy up the town centre by reporting sightings of vandalism so that the place looks presentable when all retailers reopen and shoppers come back in force at the end of the third lockdown.

He said: “With all the current lockdown rules in place, people are getting bored and, sadly, the younger generation think it is okay to come into town late at night, climb on private buildings and vandalise, graffiti or tag names or other unsightly murals.

“With shops closed and people staying home, the town centre is vulnerable and a few morons think this is acceptable.

“I would love to see Swindon become a cleaner and safer place for people to come and shop, but it’s going to take shop owners and store managers to get a community spirit to achieve this.

“We want the people of Swindon and visitors to see we care and we do make an effort. I have reported the criminal damage to buildings to the police, town centre management and others who should care.”

A team effort between the police, inSwindon BID and Swindon Borough Council has helped to clean away the graffiti but more examples appear faster than they can be removed.

The local authority’s cabinet member for maintenance councillor Maureen Penny said: “I could not agree more with Mr Ayris.

“These incidents of antisocial behaviour are an absolute eyesore and we have better things to do than spend taxpayers’ money clearing up such unsightly scrawl.

“We have been cleaning off the tags that have been reported to us, but we really need to catch the perpetrators in the act so we can prosecute them. 

“We are working closely with inSwindon and Wiltshire Police to do just that and the staff in our CCTV control will be keeping a particularly close eye on any vandals who continue to chance their arm.

“But we would ask the public to also be our eyes in the community and, if any residents spot any graffiti, please report it to us through our website www.swindon.gov.uk/graffiti”

A Wiltshire Police spokesman said: “We would always encourage people to report any vandalism or graffiti to us, either by going to our website or calling 101.

“Our community policing teams work closely with the local authority to tackle this issue, as we know it causes a nuisance and inconvenience to people living and working in the town.”

inSwindon BID was approached for comment but did not respond before deadline.