Village safety concerns after signs slashed with knife

A business owner has raised concerns about the safety of a village after his signs were slashed with a knife.
Paul Davies of @Home has had his company's signs slashedPaul Davies of @Home has had his company's signs slashed
Paul Davies of @Home has had his company's signs slashed

Paul Davies, who runs Southwater based @Home estate and lettings agency, has been selling properties in the Cedar Drive area.

He first spotted the problem when he found one of his signs at a home along the road had been cut into pieces.

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Mr Davies said: “As owner of At Home Estate Agents, I was aware of increasing incidents of our for sale signs being damaged or removed. We always replaced them immediately and it was more of an inconvenience than anything else.”

@home sign slashed@home sign slashed
@home sign slashed

A few days later Paul then found more of his signs along the same road had been targeted.

“This has since escalated into our signs, and ours alone, being deliberately targeted with what would appear to be a Stanley knife of some kind.”

Paul said he was becoming increasingly ‘disheartened’ due to the problem and was worried about the safety of others in the village.

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“I love the area and community that we serve and so it is a huge concern that there is someone walking around with a potentially offensive weapon and vandalising property during broad daylight.

“We need to make our streets safer by ensuring that this person is made known to the police.”

Sussex Police said it was investigating the reports of criminal damage.

The force has received three separate calls from the estate agents about signs being damaged in Cedar Drive this month.

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A police spokesman said the incidents are believed to have take place sometime on May 7, on the evening of May 13 and on May 16.

A knife may have been used to cause damage to the sign, the spokesman added.

Sussex Police urge anyone with information about the damage to contact [email protected] quoting serial 210 of 17/05.

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