A WATER feature billed as the focal point of Swindon’s town centre regeneration is now one of the cleanest in the UK after someone squirted washing-up liquid into the system.

The £240,000 Crumbled Water Falls, between Regent Street and Canal Walk, is thought to have been targeted early on Saturday morning.

A large crowd gathered around the feature, with children playing in the suds, as an official tried in vain to clear away the froth, which gradually swamped the crossroads.

Shopper Gerry Taylor, 68, of Newcastle Street, who snapped this photograph, said: “People were amused by it. People were just standing there and the grins on people’s faces said it all.

“Kids wanted to play in it, quite naturally. A bloke wanted to clear the stuff but he was fighting a losing battle because as he was sweeping it away, there was more coming up.

“I must have got there about one hour or so after it happened because it was pretty frothy.

“I think what someone had done is go into a shop like Tesco, got a bottle of soap suds and poured it into the fountain.

“It was a good distraction from a day’s shopping. One consolation is we have a very clean pavement and a clean fountain as well.”

The fountain, which was installed in May last year, has been in the spotlight before, with some councillors calling it a waste of money, and claiming it would be used as a urinal by late-night revellers.