PENHILL residents had a rude awakening as 22 cars were found with wing mirrors broken off in a spree of criminal damage.

Officers received reports from residents along the length of Inglesham Road first thing on Saturday morning as they woke to find their cars damaged, and neighbourhood police have since been conducting house to house enquiries in the area.

Initial reports indicate around 22 cars were targeted as the offenders broke off roadside wing mirrors along the length of the Penhill street.

Officers do not yet have any suspects as no live reports were made from the area during the night, and the offenders were unusually stealthy.

PC Lloyd Griffiths, community beat manager for Penhill, is urging people to get in touch if they saw anything that could help identify the culprits.

“We have had a series of criminal damages to motor vehicles in Inglesham Road, Penhill that occurred sometime over Friday evening on December 12 and Saturday, December 13,” he said.

“A total of 22 cars had wing mirrors damaged along the whole length of Inglesham Road. While some of the wing mirrors were able to be repaired, many have been permanently damaged.

“They have done almost every car that they can travelling along Inglesham Road, possibly kicking the wing mirrors off as they went along.

“It seems to have happened some time between Friday evening and Saturday morning, likely during the early hours of the morning.

“The initial officers conducting enquiries during the weekend have reported seeing a total of 22 cars damaged in the same stretch, and we are currently dealing with 14 incidents that have been reported to us after the owners of the cars have called in.

“We have got no suspects currently outstanding. We have seen incidents like this in the past and sometimes it is people who are drunk walking down from Cricklade Road.

“We have had officers out doing house to house enquiries. Normally in instances like this we will have had someone who has seen or heard something or seen someone in the area at the time.

“I would imagine that this happened in the early hours of Saturday morning.”

Anyone with any information about the incident, who may have had their cars damaged, or who saw any suspicious activity in the Inglesham Road area last Friday night or Saturday morning should contact PC Lloyd Griffiths on non-emergency number 101.