THE owner of a hairdressing salon in Kempsey says she wants parents of children who are vandalising her shop to think about their actions.

Sarah Prosser, who owns The Hair and Beauty Gallery, based in the village's community centre, had her letterbox kicked through at the weekend, the latest in four years of wanton damage.

"We are really getting sick of it," she said. "We've just had our letterbox kicked in, we've had to chain down our A-frame sign because it keeps getting damaged, drain-pipes have been vandalised and fire extinguishers have been let off.

"It's gone on and on and on."

Ms Prosser vowed not to let the vandals beat her, but said she was getting fed up with their unruly behaviour, adding her shop had been targeted by bored, trouble-making youths for more than four years.

"We campaigned tirelessly to keep the community centre and the salon running and I'm not going to let this stop me now," she said.

"That's what's so upsetting, that we've put so much energy into this campaign to keep the centre for future generations and young teenage louts are vandalising it all the time in such a mindless way."

Ms Prosser moved her salon into a former schoolroom into the community centre in December 2002, which brought in much-needed income to keep the centre open.

Kempsey Parish Council decided it was one of the only ways to ensure the future of the centre because money from hire fees was not sufficient.

"Vandalism has always been a problem in Kempsey because the youngsters are bored and have nothing to do, so something needs to be done about it," she said.

"I just hope parents reading this will question what their children are doing, whether they're hanging around the community centre at night, and hopefully that will lead them to putting a stop to it."

She said she had contacted local beat bobbies and urged them to create more visible police presence on the streets of Kempsey, particularly at night.

South Worcestershire Police were unavailable for comment at the time of going to press.

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