A PENSIONER is outraged after vandals ripped down tennis nets in the recreation ground behind his home.

Donald Salmon, 85, of West Wycombe Road, could not believe his eyes when he looked out of his back windows last Tuesday and saw that the nets on the public tennis courts at Desborough Road recreation ground had been slashed.

Mr Salmon's grandchildren often play on the ground and he visits once a week to pick up rubbish thrown around on the courts.

"They cut all of the nets and then threw them in the river," he said. "It's an absolute disgrace. Blatant vandalism with nothing in mind but to make others suffer.

"It's so important that people are able to access a public ground where they can play sports so it's in everyone's interest to make sure these vandals don't keep on ruining everyone's fun," he said. "Even the toilets have been closed. When one thinks of the amount of children and others who play there they at least need a toilet."

A spokesman for Wycombe District Council said it would be replacing the nets, adding: "However much we would like to reopen the toilet block we are concerned about the vandalism. This decision will be reviewed during the year.'

The spokesman added that the council's contractors and rangers patrol the ground daily but that in this instance it is thought the vandals struck overnight.