MINDLESS vandals have caused damage costing an estimated £1,000 at a West Fife sports facility that could jeopardise the staging of an international event.

A purpose-built cycle speedway track within the grounds of Queen Anne High School, which was opened in 2016, has been targeted for the third time in around five weeks.

The facility, which is used by the Fife Revolutions cycle speedway club but is free for members of the public to pedal their bikes on, had its perspex bike sheds vandalised again which will cost a four-figure sum to replace.

Craig Masson, head coach of the club and a principal teacher of support in guidance at Queen Anne, was made aware of the latest incident on Tuesday morning and contacted police, who said inquiries were ongoing.

He said the incidents were "really disappointing" and had left club members feeling "disheartened", especially as they are scheduled to host a home international competition – featuring Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland – at the end of May.

It would be the biggest event that the track, just the third of its kind in Scotland and the first to be built within a school, has ever held.

"It's really disappointing because it's their (vandals) track as well," Craig commented.

"It's free to use for the public. We've never had any vandalism up to this point so it's really frustrating, especially in a year where we've not been able to get on track and use it properly.

"When we do, we're going to have the biggest tournament that we've ever had, in the home internationals, but this vandalism is going to put that in jeopardy really because you need a pits area. That's one of the rules within the sport to hold one of these meetings, and if people are vandalising it, it's putting the chances of us hosting these meetings in jeopardy.

"In the grand scheme of things, it's a small act of vandalism, but it has big consequences for the sport in Scotland because we're then not able to use that area, we're not able to host these tournaments that help with the promotion and encourage people to the sport.

"It's going to cost us £1,000 to replace and that is a lot of money for a very small charity. We don't have the funds to do that.

"The point of it all is that you've got a facility there that's free for anybody who wants to use it; if it's then being vandalised, then it's putting people off to come and use that facility.

"It's a small minority that's spoiling it for a majority. Members of the club are a bit disheartened with it because it takes a lot of time and effort to apply for funding or put an event on and when this is happening, it makes people think what's the point of doing all this if it's just going to get ruined?

"The community have been fantastic in how they've embraced the sport and encouraged us on. We've notified the police – they've been great and really supportive – and it's a case of appealing to whoever's doing it to realise it's their track as well.

"It's something the area's been really proud of."