VANDALS have caused hundreds of pounds of damage to new play equipment at a York primary school.

About £4,000 worth of equipment, including a Viking longboat and caterpillar tunnels, were installed at the school last week in preparation for the start of the new term at Scarcroft Primary School.

But vandals struck on Saturday afternoon trashing the equipment within days of it being installed.

Head teacher Anna Cornhill said pupils, parents and teachers were devastated by the damage, especially as the whole school worked long and hard all last year to raise the money.

She said: "Looking at the kids' faces on Monday morning was terrible - they were absolutely devastated.

"When they came back to school on Thursday they were so excited to see the new stuff and had been playing on it.

"I just can't understand the mentality of whoever has done this and I fully intend to find out who it was."

Mrs Cornhill said the school had suffered from minor incidents of vandalism in the past, but nothing on this scale. Stuart MacPherson, chairman of the school governors, said: "The governors are appalled at what happened and it's a great shame for the children of the school."

The incident was caught on the school's security cameras and the footage has been sent to the police.

A spokesman for North Yorkshire police said they were investigating the matter and witnesses were encouraged to phone the police helpline on 01904 669884.

Updated: 10:26 Friday, September 10, 2004