THOUSANDS of pounds worth of flood damage was caused when a running hose-pipe was shoved through a warehouse window by vandals.

Staff of Bellegrove Ceramics Ltd returned to work on July 8 to find the hose-pipe still churning out water into the empty warehouse.

The vandals broke in through a fence into the site, in Salisbury Road, Dartford, during the weekend and pushed the pipe through an upstairs window, causing £10,000 worth of damage to the carpet, ceiling and wiring in the top floor.

It is the third attack by vandals at the warehouse in two weeks. The building was also targeted around June 25 and 28. Fences were damaged as the culprits struggled to get into the site to spray graffiti on a wall.

A police spokesman said: "We are interested in a group of five youths seen on the first occasion. It may be they had a perfectly good reason for being there and they may even have seen something themselves."

He said that, despite working with the building's owner to improve security, the vandals "appear to be very determined to cause havoc there".

Anyone with information should call Dartford police on 01322 283154 or Crimestoppers on 0800 555111.

July 15, 2002 19:30