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Staff at Ron Lines – a model railway shop on Shirley Road – returned to the store on Saturday, December 30, following two days off after Christmas, to find the shutter protecting the front of the shop had been vandalised with black and white paint.
Speaking to the Echo, co-owner Annmarie Stallard said: “Between Christmas and New Year we decided to do our stock take as it tends to be a little bit quieter.
“On Saturday, my business partner returned to see the state of the front of the building, and we just couldn’t believe it.
“It’s the first time it’s happened in nine years.”
Ron Boreham made the discovery.
He said: “I pulled up and sat in my car looking at it; I couldn’t really believe it.
“I just hope it doesn’t happen again.”
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Staff at the store on Shirley High Street have not had a chance to remove the graffiti due to the bad weather since the New Year.
Annmarie said that fortunately it had not affected business but it had proven a pain to clean off – as because the shutter is perforated the spray had gone through onto the window and door frame.
She added: “I just can’t get it off, and with the weather as it’s been, it’s proved hopeless.
“I apologised to our neighbours yesterday because they’re going to have to look at it until we get it removed.
“It will all have to be repainted in the end; I’ve not even looked at the cost yet, but someone else’s fun will cost us money.
“We’re the only shop on the street that’s been targeted, we don’t know why.”
Ron and Annmarie do not know who is responsible for the graffiti, and have not reported it to the police.
She said: “I’m not going to sit through 14 hours of CCTV footage to see the dark shadow of someone doing this in the middle of the night.
“Since the police station moved into town there have been less and less police patrols in the area, it doesn’t seem like there’s much of a deterrent.”
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