A COMMUNITY local hero chased off joy-riders performing ‘donuts’ with a sledgehammer after they churned up a grass area at Silver Sands beach.

Pensioner Glyn Chadwick, 66, highly respected locally for cleaning up the coastal village of Aberdour, took the law into his own hands when police failed to attend to the report of late-night vandalism.

His voluntary work has seen him named the Keep Scotland Beautiful ‘Hero of the Month’ previously.

At Dunfermline Sheriff Court on Monday, Chadwick, of St Fillans Crescent, Aberdour, admitted that on July 28 last year, at Silver Sands Boathouse, Hawkcraig Road, he was unlawfully in possession of a sledgehammer.

On that Tuesday night, he was called by a local resident to tell him the grass field next to the Silver Sands beach was again being “ripped up” by young joy-riders performing donuts for more than an hour.

The area was being plagued by the anti-social behaviour of boy racers damaging the park.

He told the woman to call the police and he later went to see the damage for himself along with the chair of the village’s community council.

He said that, just after 11pm, he saw the car “still hurtling around the field, egged on by spectators in two other cars parked there”.

After filming the incident on his phone from a distance, Chadwick went over to the area and found the car parked with no-one around.

He said he was then approached by “two lads, who denied it was their car and that they were just passing through”.

However, when they then got into the car, Chadwick said: “So it is your car, is it?”

One of them replied: “Yes what are you going to f****** do about it?”

At that, Chadwick grabbed the sledgehammer from his car shouting: “What am I going to do about it?” and chased them.

One drove off in the car and the other scampered off towards the beach.

When the police did turn up eventually, it was in response to a complaint from the pair he had chased.

Defence solicitor James Moncrieff said his client had no previous convictions, was retired and had lived in the village for more than 20 years.

Sheriff Richard McFarlane said it had been “an ill-advised decision” to take the sledgehammer.

He told Chadwick: “Your frustration was that the police had not attended as it was not a priority incident and there comes a point when enough is enough. You took the ill-advised decision to deal with it yourself.”

In the particular circumstance of the case, the sheriff said he would admonish Chadwick.

The volunteer received many character references for court, including from his local councillor and also the village’s community council.

His work saw him nominated previously for the Dunfermline and West Fife Citizen of the Year contest.

He also received a ‘Clean Up Scotland’ award for “exceptional efforts to improve Scotland’s environment”.

After the case, the popular volunteer said: “It’s been a worry to have this hanging over me for 14 months while those doing the damage seem to have got away scot-free.

“Looking back, it was foolish and I was an idiot to take the sledgehammer with me.

“I thought it might make them think twice about doing it again. Thankfully, I don’t think there haven’t been any other incidents since then.”