Reward to help catch 'selfish' criminals who vandalised Kent public toilets

A £500 reward is being offered to help find those responsible for vandalising public toilets in Folkestone in Kent.

The facilities at the bus station were vandalsed last weekend (13-14 August), and now Folkestone and Hythe District Council is now offering a financial reward to anyone who supplies information leading to a successful prosecution of those responsible.

The £500 reward will be shared if multiple people provide information.

The authority said Kent Police has been informed of the incident and any details received will be shared with officers to help their investigation.

Cabinet Member for Property Management and Grounds Maintenance, Cllr Collier said: “This vandalism is disgraceful and the perpetrators should be ashamed of themselves.

“These toilets were closed for a number of years before we invested more than £20,000 into them back in 2019. We did that because residents told us how important it is to have these facilities at the bus station.”

Leader Cllr David Monk added: “Having public toilets at the bus station is useful for all of us but there are people for whom this facility is essential and without which they cannot visit Folkestone. This selfish act wastes taxpayers’ money and will mean the toilets are out of action until they can be repaired.

The vandalism of the public toilets at the bus station is the latest in a series of public property destroyed across the district. The public toilets in Lydd suffered fire damage last month and the toilets at New Romney and Cheriton were also subject to vandalism.

The council has made the decision to shut the Cheriton and New Romney public toilets at 6pm now rather than the normal time of 10pm reduce the chance of vandalism.

The most recent vandalism at the Folkestone public toilets, by the bus station in Bouverie Place took place over the weekend of 13-14 August.

Anyone with information should call the Kent Police appeal line on 01843 222289 quoting reference 46/159094/22. You can also call the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555111.