A Perth couple’s lives have been turned into a “living nightmare” by anti-social youths drinking outside Perth College every night.
Brenda and William Cairns, who are both in their 70s, say the youngsters continuously smash and break bottles into the field outside their home where they walk their dogs – resulting in a £500 vet bill.
The youths drink at the back end of the college’s new Sport and Wellbeing Centre, which looks onto the Cairns property on Kingswell Terrace.
Brenda, 70, said: “We’ve been here for 51 years and we’ve never had this kind of problem.
“It’s just a nightly thing, every night of the week. I don’t know if it’s the same people every week but it’s a living nightmare.
“They bring along their radio and have that blaring.
“The amount of of broken and smashed bottles, I’m disgusted at the mess over there.
“I picked up a smashed bottle of vodka last night and Buckfast.
“There was a needle there one night.
“I go out and try to pick up the glass but it’s just so bad there’s no point.
“When you phone the college they say they clean it up but there’s no way.”
Brenda said the glass smashing problem with the young drinkers, who she believes are aged 14 and upwards, has gotten so bad that it resulted in a £500 vet bill when her dog King cut his foot.
She said: “Before we go to bed at night we take the dogs over but we haven’t been able to take them off their leads because it’s so bad.
“With King it wasn’t just a cut, it was right through the pad, right underneath.
“My kitchen was like a war zone there was so much blood. It was so deep that my finger (accidentally) went right into the cut.”
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Perth College UHI bosses have said they are taking the matter very seriously and have been in contact with the police.
A spokesperson for the college said: “Perth College UHI are taking this situation extremely seriously and our estates team have been making every effort to clear up any broken glass as regularly as possible.
“We are also liaising with the police on how best to prevent the anti-social behaviour which has been disturbing the local residents.
“We have members of staff on campus seven days a week who are aware of the problem and regularly check the area for any disturbance.
“We also have a security patrol which operates overnight on campus.”
