Anger as former Snibston Colliery hit by vandals

The damage has been reported to police

Volunteers are counting the cost after a former colliery in Leicestershire was targeted by vandals.

The Snibston Heritage Trust said it was "appalled and saddened" after windows were broken and buildings damaged at Snibston Colliery in Coalville.

Owned by Leicestershire County Council, the site reopened to the public last year, with former miners giving members of the public tours.

The vandalism has been reported to Leicestershire Police.

Snibston Colliery is the only colliery left in Leicestershire

Stuart Warburton, secretary of the Snibston Heritage Trust, told BBC Radio Leicester it was "a premeditated attack" on the building, which will now cost the council to carry out repairs.

"Whoever's done this has stood at the window with a brick that they've prised off the wall in front of the building, and actually smashed the windows so that the wires have broken," he said.

"It's not just a case of mindless throwing [of] stones at windows, this is somebody who's stood in front of the window for some considerable time and just smashed and smashed and smashed."

Though the site remains open to the public, Mr Warburton said the "completely mindless vandalism" insulted the legacy of the mining industry in the town.

"It's not just an attack on a building in Coalville, it's an attack on the memory of the miners who worked at Snibston," he said.

"Whoever's the perpetrator has got no feeling either for the appearance of the town or the memory of those miners, who may have been their grandfathers or great-grandfathers."