Two Age Concern ambulances petrol bombed by rioters costing £45,000

Finance | Vibeka Mair | 11 Aug 2011

The fallout for the charity sector from this week’s London riots continues with Age Concern Leicester Shire & Rutland reporting that two ambulances were petrol-bombed on Tuesday night, causing damage in the region of £45,000.

A statement on the charity’s website called it “mindless destruction”. A spokesman said: “At around 8pm on this Tuesday a gang of hooded young people went into an NCP car park in central Leicester where at night we park up to ten ambulances.

“They entered the car park with petrol bombs - picked out one of the vehicles, broke a window and threw the petrol bomb in. The ambulance was totally destroyed and the one next to it badly scorched and damaged.

“We are all totally devastated by this mindless act. The vehicle was not new and so we are unlikely to get much back on insurance. To replace it however - bearing in mind it is purpose-built, we will have to find in the region of £45,000.”

Age UK Croydon was attacked on Monday night. An office was looted and damaged, while a staff member was trapped inside. Its chief executive Stuart Routledge estimates the cost could be up to £30,000.

Elsewhere, a Nuffield Health Fitness & Wellbeing Centre in Norbury was broken into this week. A fire was started and significant damage was caused to the club. The loss and damage sustained is now the subject of an insurance claim. While this takes place the centre will remain closed.

Directory: Age UK

Comments

[Cancel] | Reply to:

Name *

Email *

Organisation

Job Title

Comments *

Verification *

* Please read our Community Standards

Close »

Community Standards

The civilsociety.co.uk community and comments board is intended as a platform for informed and civilised debate.

We hope to encourage a broad range of views, however, there are standards that we expect commentators to uphold. We reserve the right to delete or amend any comments that do not adhere to these standards.

We welcome:

Robust but respectful debate
Strongly held opinions
Intelligent relevant discussion
The sharing of relevant experiences
New participants

We will not publish:

Rude, threatening, offensive, obscene or abusive language, or links to such material
Links to commercial organisations or spam postings. The comments board is not an advertising platform
The posting of contact details for yourself or others
Comments intended for malicious purpose or mindless abuse
Comments purporting to be from another person or organisation under false pretences
Gratuitous criticism, commentary or self-promotion
Any material which breaches copyright or privacy laws, or could be considered libellous
The use of the comments board for the pursuit or extension of personal disputes

Be aware:

Views expressed on the comments board are left at users’ discretion and are in no way views held or supported by Civil Society Media
Comments left by others may not be accurate, do not rely on them as fact
You may be misunderstood - sarcasm and humour can easily be taken out of context, try to be clear

Please:

Enjoy the opportunity to express your opinion and respect the right of others to express theirs
Confine your remarks to issues rather than personalities

Together we can keep our community a polite, respectful and intelligent platform for discussion.