Police have appealed to parents to reign in their children after youths stole the wheeled bin from behind the Barrhead Foundry and launched it down a large flight of stairs.

The bin ended up in the Levern River in Carlibar Park, while the stairs were strewn with used toilet roll and litter.

The callous vandals also set fire to a wooden bench in the children’s playpark, causing hundreds of pounds worth of damage.

Local authority liaison officer, Sergeant Jim Boyle, said: “I would appeal to parents to make sure that they know where their kids are at all times.

“The actions of some of these youths could have serious repercussions, and many could see themselves with criminal records at a young age.” Staff at the Barrhead Foundry discovered the missing bin on Tuesday morning in the Levern River, which runs through Carlibar Park at the bottom of a steep hill.

And a concerned residents sent pictures of the resulting mess and damage to the park to The News, asking for more to be done to prevent anti-social behaviour and disorder in the area.

Sgt Boyle continued: “The consequences of their actions could be very bad, these bins are large heavy objects that are travelling at speed down a flight of steps.

“And deliberately setting fire to playpark equipment will not be tolerated.” The News previously reported how vandals were setting fire to dumped rubbish in wasteland near Carlibar Park.

However Police will now be setting up regular patrols in the area in an effort to combat the issue.

Sgt Boyle added: “We are aware that this is happening and it has become a priority area for us, we will be laying on additional foot patrols in this area to re-assure residents and dissuade this kind of behaviour.” However, Barrhead community council secretary and local activist Rena McGuire feels that more should have been done years ago, highlighting efforts made by the community council to see cameras installed.

She said: “Two years ago when the park was seriously damaged, costing the council something in the region of £20,000 to fix, we asked that a CCTV camera be installed.

“But we were told that the cameras which are currently in the area do an ample enough job and that another camera was not needed.

“I think it is obvious that more needs to be done and that the park really could be doing with its own camera.”