Kind-hearted couple's cars clean-up foils the paint vandals

A PAIR of quick-thinking Good Samaritans saved their neighbours a packet after spotting their cars had been spray-painted by vandals.

Lymington residents Judy Cummings (66) and her husband Brian (67), who live on North Close, were furious when they discovered that red and blue paint had been left all over vehicles in the area late on Saturday night.

Finding the paint was still wet, along with a neighbour they acted fast and scrubbed away the graffiti before it could dry.

More than 10 cars were sprayed, and the cleaning team were out until 11pm getting rid of the mess.

Judy, who works at New Forest Ice Cream, said: “Our youngest daughter was just leaving our house when she came back in and said that there was something wrong with the cars so we went out to have look and saw thick red and blue paint all over the neighbours’ vehicles.

“Brian went and knocked on our neighbour Theresa’s door who came out with some buckets to clean off the paint. My husband and I did the same and, together with Theresa, we scrubbed the paint off 10 cars and another neighbour did their own.

“We just had to do it, we couldn’t leave it. It would have been heartbreaking for the owners to come out in the morning and see the damage.

"It might not have come off so easily if it was left and it was lucky the paint seemed to be a water-based one.”

Brian, who is retired, added: “Come the morning it might have been really hard to get off and could have left marks in the vehicles’ paintwork. It was also all over the wheels and the lights. It was such a mess.

“The people whose cars we washed have been excellent. They brought round flowers, chocolates and wine to show that they really appreciated it, which was nice of them. We did it because we hope other people would do the same for someone else.”

The Lymington Business Centre, located just around the corner on Canon Street, was also targeted by the yobs who sprayed the same paint all over its wall.

Don Mackenzie, owner of the centre, said: “We were very disappointed that someone has sprayed paint over the front of our building and we now have to spend time and money sorting this out.

“It’s hard to understand why anyone would want to deliberately damage other people’s property and we hope that it doesn’t happen again.”

A Hampshire police spokesperson told the A&T that the paint was able to be washed off the cars and no lasting damage was caused.

Those with information about the incident or anti-social behaviour in the area should contact police on 101, quoting 44190320697.

Anti-social behaviour can also be reported to the police online at www.hampshire.police.uk/ro/report/asb/af/antisocial-behaviour/.