Anger as vandals graffiti Margate buildings resulting in £3k clean up cost

Four people were seen spraying the building

A property management boss says it has cost some £3,000 to put right after vandals covered buildings in Margate with graffiti twice in one week.

Shaun Luca looks after properties including the Age Concern shop and flats building in the High Street which was targeted last Sunday and again on Wednesday night. Neighbouring properties backing onto the Meeting Street car park were also graffitied.

Because of the height of the area where the graffiti was sprayed Shaun says the owner had to pay for scaffolding and for the building to be cleaned, totalling £3000. Further money has been spent on new cameras and other security measures.

He said: “I’ve put cameras up so hopefully will catch them if they do it again. They graffitied the Age UK building, next door and all up the alleyway which was closed for ages but is now open again.

“The police came out Wednesday night but said the CCTV cameras aren’t working. I didn’t report it to the council as they don’t do anything.

“These kids are climbing onto roofs and putting graffiti on people’s property. It costs thousands of pounds to get it removed and put extra security measures in place to stop them doing it.”

A Kent Police spokesperson said: “Kent Police is investigating a report of criminal damage that occurred to a building in Margate High Street.

“Officers were called to the property just before 9pm on Wednesday 8 March when it was reported that four people were spray painting the building and causing damage to the roof.  On arrival there were no suspects present.

“Enquiries are ongoing and anyone with information should contact Kent Police on 01843 222289 quoting reference 46/43827/23”

Complaints made to Thanet council about graffiti are dealt with differently depending on whether the graffiti is obscene or not, or whether it is located on public or private land.

Thanet council does not clear graffiti from private property. Obscene graffiti is prioritised with all other instances on council property added to a weekly clearance list.

Every piece of graffiti costs the council at least £200 a square metre to clean up by either removing or painting over – equating to over £22,000 a year.

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36 Comments

  1. These kids are feral scum. Graffiti is making our rundown towns look even worse. The council and police need to crack down on the scum that damage people’s property and start prosecuting to the full extent of the law. Perhaps if the scum actually had to pay full clean up costs rather than a pitifully low token fine they may start to think twice about ruining other people property.

  2. That also happens at Arlington derilict shopping area as fast as it’s painted over they are back and that’s in broad daylight the art work at the front is ok well done Shaun for bringing to attention.

    • But Banksy is allowed and people think its wonderful, it’s just the same, Graffiti, paint in places where it wasn’t and shouldn’t be , to them who Graffiti that is there art . ?

  3. I agree its mindless disgusting people who have no care for others.Its a big problem in Thanet and needs to be tackled by the council.The whole area is becoming a S***hole.Coupled with backstreets full of litter and weeds everywhere,Im convinced it will be its downfall.Would I want to visit or invest here…..NO.

  4. I also agree with above.All three seasides towns are overrun with graffiti.
    It really is off-putting and must damage tourism. I can think of hundreds of much nicer places to visit.It starts on the road traffic signs as you enter Thanet.Prior to Thanet it isnt a problem.

    • Well said Rick. I recently got KCC to replace two dangerous bend signs that were covered in graffiti and weren’t fit for purpose Credit to KCC they replaced the signs but within a few days the graffiti was back 🤷🏻‍♂️

    • “Prior to Thanet it isnt a problem.”

      I mean, unless you’ve been driving with undue care and attention with your eyes closed, you’re talking rubbish. There is graffiti all up the Thanet way(writers going “all county”), all around Herne Bay/Whitstable, all down the train tracks (writers going “all county”), all over Canterbury, Deal, Dover, et al.

  5. The council could do a lot to help stop these idiots if they banned all stores / shops that sell spray paint tins from having the spray tins on open display they should to keep it under lock and key. Kids and older yobs are stealing the paints from the shops. I told one assistant in B&Q kids are nicking the spray cans she replied “ yeah they keep doing it” when caught their parents should be made to pay for the damage. It’s sickening to see their demented damage and nothing being done to stop them.

  6. So it costs £1,600 for scaffolding, but the yobs got up there without scaffolding! Therefore, why can’t the cleaners go up there at the same cost as the yobs? Don’t tell me it’s ‘Health & Safety’. Balderdash!

    • Claude

      Your comments must be the stupidest I seen on here for a long time. You expect work people to out their lives at risk is just a bonkers reply.

      Health and safety is there for a reason. To protect workers from people like you !.

      As for the graffiti it’s the double standards I cant stand. A local scally and its graffiti banksy and its art. No both are graffiti and both should be dealt with the same by the courts. Sorry the arty community but banksy is a yob.

    • they climbed the roofs and fences

      and yes scaffolding is for safety reasons as they can’t hang over the top

  7. Claude, you are not one of the idiots doing the graffiti are you ???? Your daft suggestion sounds like you may well be.

  8. Wanksy graffiti on a Margate wall and the press and the Thanet elite are having an orgasm,over its appearance.Some feral nonentity sprays on a wall and they are scum.
    Surely,both have vandalized property.You allow Wanksy to do it,you are giving everyone the same licence to do so.

  9. I agree , graffiti is graffiti , both are vandalism, so why is one ok ?
    I spotted two lads with hoodies graffiting our new fence in the alley way the other afternoon, they saw me and stopped spraying and calmly picked up their Black Hessian shopping bags containing their spray cans and calmly walked off down the rd !

  10. Morons. Give me the tools and the chemicals to clean it off tdc and I would gladly do it free of any charge

  11. i dont think i have ever seen a sucessful prosecution for grafitti in thanet ever , can anyone tell of any ?

  12. I’d recommend anti climb paint put that all over you access points on your roof ect. That might stop them . If it happens again see if you can get a cherry picker in nstead of scaffold.

  13. I dislike many of the artworks I see in galleries, but I would never refer to an artist or a gallery by an obscene variant of their name.

    • Due to the lack of toilet facilities around that area,I think the “Turder”Centre” is an apt name for it.Having a Tom Tit would be the only reason I would frequent that sh.te house.

  14. What about a telescopic paint brush? Like the window cleaners use. Much cheaper.

    Some people can’t think.

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