Mindless vandals sparked anger after trashing a life-saving public defibrillator in a West Lothian village.
The defibrillator is housed in a refurbished red telephone box in East Whitburn's East Main Street for vital use by the community. However it emerged this week that the telephone box door has been smashed.
Community group Bash Community Buzz highlighted the damage on social media this week, branding the incident an outrage. They added: “It beggars belief that anyone thinks this is kind of behaviour is acceptable after the hard work and effort that went into providing a valuable resource in our community for the benefit of everyone.”
Stacey Johnstone who maintains the box said: “We’re gutted after all the work getting the funding then restoring the phone box and having the life saving defib installed.”
Local councillor Kirsteen Sullivan added: “It took a considerable amount of effort for volunteers not only to get the defib and carry out the training but also to do up the box. This is nothing other than mindless vandalism to a resource that is there to save lives. “
Bash Community Buzz issued a plea for anyone with information on the incident to come forward.
They said: “If anyone has any CCTV of the main street or witnessed anything, perhaps you know who did this… please get in touch with us or contact the police anonymously quoting the incident number PS 2020 0430 0887."
