Tinkle tinkle...

[Chromatix]

I like living here. The serious crime rate is low, the railway station is right across the street, etc. But there is a local vandalism problem... everything from graffiti to smashed windows, generally in the vicinity of the aforementioned railway station. Apparently they are even so bold as to graffiti a train while it's in service - from the non-platform side!

In the early morning of this Saturday, I managed to catch sight of a bunch of teenagers, who are probably the main culprits, smashing up the bus shelter that's visible from my kitchen window. More precisely, I noticed some very loud noises coming from that direction, and went to the window to investigate.

Unfortunately, by the time I found my camera to take pictures as evidence, a security company's car had shown up which caused them to scarper.

The shelter is pretty badly damaged, and being the Easter weekend, it hasn't been repaired yet. One of the glass panels was completely shattered, and the advertising panel was broken open and smashed as well (the poster inside it is now missing). They were trying pretty hard to smash one of the other panels when I saw them, but it seems that the larger panels are more resilient somehow.

Maybe I should put up a ghetto surveillance system...

[Magpie]

I must admit this is NOT what I expected from your thread title. I was reminded of certain things I heard in my (basement) room when the house next door hosted a small kegger.

[greek_jester]

That sucks I can sympathise.

The council where we used to live had a problem with one set of bus shelters that would have glass in them for a maximum of 48 hours before some little oik smashed them again. The council beat them by replacing the glass in each bus shelter, as it was vandalised, with perspex approx 3/4 inch thick. You could see where the little buggers had hammered at it with something (probably a crowbar - they could get pretty bowed), tried cutting it, & even burning it, but it resisted all efforts (except for the odd sheet coming adrift). After a while they gave it up as a bad job. None of the local bus stops had been vandalised for 6 months before we moved out of the town. It did take nearly 2 years to sink in, though!

[Chromatix]

Well, by the time I got home from work on Tuesday, it had all been swept up and repaired. Finland takes national holidays (including Easter weekend) pretty seriously, but it looks like this was put at the top of the list for immediately afterwards.

I remember that the perspex trick got used a lot in Liverpool. So far it doesn't seem to have become necessary here.

[Alephcat]

I remember that the perspex trick got used a lot in Liverpool. So far it doesn't seem to have become necessary here.

In ellesmere port (just across the mersy from liverpool) they have graduated to using metal as a replacement, I think it must be cheaper for the council to replace, or maybe it stays put longer.

[Chromatix]

That probably has a lot to do with fire resistance. Another thing I remember about Liverpool was seeing a *lot* of melted litter bins, and the perspex shelters were often scorched.

[greek_jester]

In ellesmere port (just across the mersy from liverpool) they have graduated to using metal as a replacement

Possibly because the perspex discolours quickly (particularly if some little bugger tries to set fire to it) - bus shelters seem to be popular spots for smoking a quick fag, & tar & nicotine sink into perspex & stain it in a way that's impossible with glass or metal.

[the lawsmeister]

Possibly because the perspex discolours quickly (particularly if some little bugger tries to set fire to it) - bus shelters seem to be popular spots for smoking a quick fag, & tar & nicotine sink into perspex & stain it in a way that's impossible with glass or metal.

Perspex also has a tendency to go rather brittle if exposed to a certain liquid.
My wife used to teach a chemistry prac that demonstrated this. Everytime they did this module there'd be a spate of broken bus shelters around the uni. I think they stopped teaching it after a while.