A PRE-school has hit out at young yobs who left a trail of destruction.

The group targeted Shelf Pre-School, Halifax Road, over the weekend and have now been urged to think about the consequences of their actions.

Sharing what happened on Facebook, the pre-school said it was “upset to report that a group of teenagers over the weekend have had quite the party behind pre-school”.

In a post, they said: “As well as the usual smoking of drugs and littering, they have dragged the bin round to the back of the village hall where they sit and smoke.

“Have then tried their best to pull the fence from the wall, then used the bin to leap over the fence.”

The pre-school revealed the group then went on to mess around on a toy ride-on car, before destroying it on Sunday night - and appearing to film it.

The pre-school, a charity, has slammed the culprits, who are thought to be around 16 to 18 years old, and a local councillor spoke of his “despair” at their actions.

Manager Rochelle Hadcroft said: “It’s futile - it’s moronic teenage behaviour. My worry is that they are going to keep coming back.”

She added: “I’m disappointed because I think some of them are local - to think they could do that in the place they grew up.

“Every action has a consequence. Somebody has to clear up their mess.

“If they’ve got any decency about them, they would come and apologise and help clean up.”

She described the situation as “maddening” and said incidents like this mean time has to be taken out to deal with the aftermath.

Speaking about the actions unleashed by the group, Mrs Hadcroft said the culprits had tried hard, with determination, to damage the fence and described them as ragging it.

She said staff found the toy car in bits on the floor.

While Mrs Hadcroft said nobody travelling on Halifax Road would have been able to see what was going on, the group were captured on CCTV and the incident has been reported to the police - who she says recognise some of the culprits and will be speaking to them.

“I hope that’s all it takes for a family to go ‘that’s my son or daughter, that’s not happening’,” Mrs Hadcroft added.

“I’m hoping that’s enough to say ‘that’s enough now’.”

Councillor Peter Caffrey (Con, Shelf and Northowram) said there has been some problems with anti-social behaviour in general.

“You get pockets of it,” he said. “It’s always difficult to police it.

“I think some of these things come in waves.”

Of the pre-school incident, he said: “I’m disappointed they’ve seen fit to do that,” he said.

“I really do despair sometimes.”

A West Yorkshire Police spokesperson said: “Police are investigating following reports of criminal damage at a pre-school in Shelf over the weekend.

The incident happened between January 11 and 13 at Shelf Village Hall on Halifax Road. Suspects climbed over a fence and caused damage to a toy car.

“There was also some damage to the fence as well as litter and drugs paraphernalia left in the vicinity. Enquiries are ongoing. Anyone who witnessed anything suspicious in the area or has any information is asked to contact the police via 101 quoting crime reference number 13190024220 or information can be passed to Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.”