Vandals strike family business

Published 14 Jun 2012 17:00

A family-run cruise hire company has been hit by vandalism that has cost more than hundreds of pounds to repair.

The Kris Cruisers company in Southlea Road, Datchet was hit Thursday last week evening as three vandals raided their boatyard and triggered fire extinguishers on the company's fleet of river cruisers.

Proprietor Chris Clark said: "They took nine or ten fire extinguishers off of the boats and sprayed them everywhere; the CCTV shows them spraying the extinguishers all over themselves as well as the boats. They just caused havoc."

Mr Clark estimates it has cost the company £600 as they have had to spend around £300 on replacing the fire extinguishers ruined during the raid and a further £300 to clean up the damage to the boats.

The vandals are believed to be between the ages of 15 and 17 and Mr Clark thinks they have targetted the boatyard before.

Mr Clark added: "We believe at least two of the three youngsters have been kicked out of the boatyard before after getting in and causing trouble on another evening."

The problem could have been worse if the company had been unable to replace the fire extinguishers swiftly as their boats would not have been allowed to set out on the water, resulting in a loss of more income.

Mr Clark added: "We feared we would have to cancel our hirings on Saturday and that would have cost even more money."

Kris Cruisers have been based in Datchet for more than 45 years providing boats for trips the length of the River Thames and has been run by the Clark family since the company's inception.

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This article appeared in Slough Observer 14 Jun 12

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