VANDALISM in Helensburgh's Hermitage Park hit the headlines this time 15 years ago after a burned-out stolen car was taken on a destructive rampage by joyriders. Here's our story from 2004...

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JOYRIDERS left a trail of destruction after a night on the rampage in troubled Hermitage Park.

The vandals ploughed through flower beds in a stolen car, knocking over small trees and tearing up the grass around the shelter in the park, before setting fire to the vehicle on Monday night.

The burnt out shell of the car was still smouldering at 11am the next day, and the blackened grass and deep tyre tracks told a tale of mindless vandalism the night before.

READ MORE: Helensburgh vandalism 'off the scale', say police

Two large conifer trees in the park were also damaged by fire, one appeared to have had a burning car seat thrown into it.

Seats around the shelter, which is due to be demolished, had been pulled up and turned upside down and several paving stones had also been cracked.

One woman who lives near the park said: “It’s so sad to see it, it really is a mess.

“What it’s going to cost to reinstate all that grass, I don’t know. They have really gone haywire on it. There’s seats up turned and it really is in an awful state.”

READ MORE: Friends of Hermitage Park vow not to let vandals grind them down

The park was hit by a series of vandalism attacks earlier in the year, including repeated attacks by stone throwing yobs on neighbouring Hermitage Primary.

In May, the Helensburgh and Lomond area committee voted to demolish the shelter to dissuade youths from hanging around in the park.

Since then the park has been relatively quiet, with no reports of damage in several weeks.