VILLAGERS have been shocked by several instances of antisocial behaviour in their normally- quiet rural community.

Over the last few months, the bus shelter in Ashill near the village hall has been vandalised and had foul language graffitied on it.

The vandalism took the form of manure being thrown into it and smeared all over the walls. But community spirit has come to the fore and the shelter has been cleaned and repainted by volunteers, with the chairman of the parish council providing the paint for free.

Steve Aspinall, the clerk to the parish council, said: “I have lived here for 12 years and have never known anything like this before.

“We don’t know why anybody would pick on Ashill. There is generally no crime in the village and then, suddenly, this happens.

“It’s so far removed from the attitude of people who live here that it’s difficult to understand.”

Around the same time, a road sign on the A358 towards Broadway was also sprayed with foul language. The incidents have been reported to PCSO John Martin, who visited the scene.

He said: “I visited the area along with Karen Pack a couple of days after the latest incident – the shelter had already been repainted.

“We do know a couple of road signs also suffered graffiti. “We do get bad graffiti removed as soon as possible to try and prevent unwanted distress.”

Mr Aspinall added: “There’s not much we can do about it. We just have to play it by ear and hope it doesn’t happen again.

“We don’t have CCTV and, ideally, we don’t want to be in that environment.

“I would urge these people to please stop doing it. I don’t know what they get out of it but they are making life miserable for people living out here.”