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Vandals Damage Llangollen Railway Carriages Over Weekend

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Y Ddraig Coch

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Some sad news coming out of Llangollen, it seems some vandals have broken in and smashed windows, ripped up seats and ruined fixtures and fittings over the weekend.

Not helped by the current situation where every penny counts. I do wish these idiot would just think before they carry out such mindless acts.

Link with pictures below.



Vandals cause thousands of pounds of 'horrendous' damage to historic train carriages
The carriages, which date back to the 1940s, were vandalised at Llangollen Railway Station



Two carriages were vandalised at Llangollen Railway Station between October 9th and October 12th.
Two carriages were vandalised at Llangollen Railway Station between October 9th and October 12th. (Image: LLangollen Railway Station)
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Vandals have caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to two heritage carriages dating back to the 1940s at Llangollen Railway Station.

Several seats and tables were pulled up and panels were pulled off the walls of the 64 seater carriages which are designed to travel behind a locomotive.

Both carriages were left 'covered in glass' after the trespassers smashed their way inside.

Alcohol bottles were also found at the scene.

It is believed that the damage was caused sometime between the afternoon on Friday, October 9 and Monday, October 12, while the carriages were parked just outside of the station.

The railway station is currently closed due to the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions meaning that no one can travel to the county except for limited exceptions including work, education or healthcare.

Two carriages were vandalised at Llangollen Railway Station between October 9th and October 12th.

Liz McGuinness, general manager at Llangollen Railway, said: "It's just horrendous what they've done.

"We don't know the extent of the damage yet but they've easily caused thousands of pounds worth of damage.

"They will have had to trespass along our lines to do what they've done, a lot of hard work went in to it.


"They've broken in to the carriage and used things inside to smash the windows from the inside out.

"They've also smashed some windows from the outside so there was glass everywhere outside and the inside was covered.

"They've ripped heritage panels off the walls dating back 40 to 50 years.

Two carriages were vandalised at Llangollen Railway Station between October 9th and October 12th.
Two carriages were vandalised at Llangollen Railway Station between October 9th and October 12th. (Image: LLangollen Railway Station)
"Seats have been pulled up, tables have been pulled up, it's just awful."

Unfortunately there is no CCTV at the site.

North Wales Police are now appealing for information about the incident.

They have posted on their social media page asking for any witnesses to come forward.

Anyone with any information is being asked to get in touch with the police quoting reference number Y150557.
 
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Mack91

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Makes you wonder how some people have a mindset where they can think this is the best thing they can spend time doing, nevermind thinking of doing it in the first place.

Wish the railway luck for repairing the coaches.
 

STEVIEBOY1

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I am sorry to hear about this, yet again another heritage railway being hit by this mindless vandalism. Did they have cctv?
 

Ash Bridge

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This is truly sad, then again I suppose the poor little dears are getting bored and fed up with all the restrictions placed on them through C***d etc.

Well I certainly know what I would do with them once they are indentified <(
 

STEVIEBOY1

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Sadly no cctv
That's a pity.

This is truly sad, then again I suppose the poor little dears are getting bored and fed up with all the restrictions placed on them through C***d etc.

Well I certainly know what I would do with them once they are indentified <(
Well I hope they do get the people who did this, but I don't hold out much hope. Sending best wishes to the railway.
 

AndyY1951

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I'm sure the idiots do think - they deliberately set out to cause malicious damage and maximum distress to other people.
I'm afraid the problem will never be solved until the punishment fits the crime, but I can't see that happening any time soon.
 

Ash Bridge

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That's a pity.


Well I hope they do get the people who did this, but I don't hold out much hope. Sending best wishes to the railway.

I'm sadly inclined to agree with you @STEVIEBOY1 but may I join you in sending my best wishes also.

I'm sure the idiots do think - they deliberately set out to cause malicious damage and maximum distress to other people.
I'm afraid the problem will never be solved until the punishment fits the crime, but I can't see that happening any time soon.
Spot on!
 

Tom Quinne

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I’m afraid until railways help themselves in relation to security then this will continue to happen.

I’ve recently had installed a HD 4K camera system on my total coat £800, how much to repair a single window on a MK1?

The system is monitored by an app, recordable to a HD harddrive for 28 days.

Should it happen, of course not. Will it continue to happen definitely, and more so with railways closed for local lockdowns and forced closures the assets are seen as easy pickings to those who believe that it’s okay to destroy or steal others property.

Is it the worst crime in living history, definitely not. Should they be hung from the station lamps, no.

Railways need to help themselves firstly, and secure their assets no just vehicles, but equipment and valuable parts etc.

I’d go as far to say there is a lot of unpleasantness going on within certain railways of late, it wouldn’t be unknown for elements to attack “their own” to get their own back.

Not that I’m saying this is the case here.
 

Worf

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You wouldn't need to hang that many from station lamps to stop it happening though.
 

Tom Quinne

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I think people to to get a grip, the courts can’t/won’t jail real criminals what hope for some kids smashing up some old railway carriages.
 

JKF

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If they found beer bottles at the scene surely there’s some potential fingerprint/DNA evidence available? Not that the police will necessarily be arsed doing anything about it!
 

Darandio

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I do wish these idiot would just think before they carry out such mindless acts.

Oh they think alright, they think it's great because they know there aren't any repercussions.

Around here stealing bins and starting a fire on the big field is a favourite of theirs, the bins are often from the elderly. It's not because they want to start a fire, it's because they know a new bin from the council costs £22. Then some new houses are going up with a pretty new fence, most of the fence didn't last one night and was set alight. The rest of it was pulled off the next night and they didn't bother setting it alight, they just smashed it to pieces.

It's maximum damage in order to piss people off as much as possible and they know not a thing will be done about it.
 

dakta

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" It's maximum damage in order to piss people off as much as possible and they know not a thing will be done about it. "

It sickens me to the core to think it but unfortunately I think you're pretty much on the money.

" I’m afraid until railways help themselves in relation to security then this will continue to happen."

I'm not so sure, I had my industrial unit raided by a pair of chaps with machetes one night and we actually got pretty decent CCTV of them as we have quite a decent security presence (fences, decent padlocks, cameras), we also managed to track of the stolen gear with GPS and find some of the stuff later for sale. Needless to say there was no interest from law enforcement, I think this is now widely recognised and factored in to in the 'pre-raid risk assessment'. I've a nasty feeling sticking some extra cameras would just give some of these crooks something else to take, it certainly did not deter.

Suppose you could argue it might work against opportunists rather than career, but I really don't know because it seems people do bad things for even no reason now
 
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