Police have been urged to crack down on youths on electric motorbikes who are “wrecking” Caird Park Golf Course.
Golfer Mark Campbell says nuisance bikers have plagued the Dundee Council-owned facility for the past couple of years.
The Logie Golf Club member says problems have grown with the rise of electric bikes, enabling joyriders to churn up the turf without being heard.
People who dare challenge the youths have been subjected to threats and even violence, he claims.
Mark wants police to take action after several recent incidents that have coincided with lighter spring evenings.
“It would take half an hour of police work to catch them,” he said.
Caird Park Golf Course targeted ‘since the electric bikes came out’
Mark says the joyriders’ favourite time to enter the course is around 8pm, close to sunset.
“It is really bad and getting worse,” he said.
“The greens on the third, 11th, 17th and 18th holes have all been damaged.
“They know exactly what they are doing as they only target the greens, causing thousands of pounds of damage.
“I don’t know why the police have not done anything about this as they are on the golf course almost every night of the week.
“The good people of Dundee pay a lot of money to play the golf course and it must be depressing for the greenkeeping staff turning up to work to find more damage done on a daily basis.
“It is embarrassing – the course is getting wrecked.
“It has been going on for a couple of years, since the electric bikes came out.
“It is not like they are on scramblers and you can hear them all over the place.
“Something has got to be done about this soon.”
Police ‘dealing with recent incidents’
Mark also claims the joyriders have recently assaulted members of the public “who have approached them to ask why they’re doing this.”
He continued: “They think they have the right to do what they want.
“I’m getting sick of it.”
Vandals also targeted the golf course in October 2022, when three greenkeepers’ gators, worth £16,000 each, were stolen.
The cabs were then used to tear up fairways. greens and trees. The vandals then broke into a shed, stole a tractor, and attempted to break into another shed.
Regarding the latest spate of vandalism, a Leisure and Culture Dundee spokesperson said: “We are aware of recent incidents and these are being dealt with by Police Scotland.”
Inspector Keith Anderson, from Downfield Police Station, said: “Electric off-road vehicles fall in to the same category as petrol powered off-road bikes and as such are unregistered and illegal to use on the roads and on land without the owner’s permission.
“We continue to rely on the support of the public to provide us with descriptions of vehicles, identity of riders, if they are known, and places where motorbikes are being kept or where fuel for these vehicles is being bought.
“These pieces of information are all invaluable.
“We would ask anyone who has any information about incidents of anti-social behaviour or illegal or dangerous use of vehicles to get in touch with us on 101.”
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