POLICE are hunting three vandals who went on the rampage at a Newport charity centre, causing more than £1,000 worth of damage.

And it is alleged the juveniles then returned to the scene the following day to taunt staff about their actions.

The vandals struck on Sunday evening at around 7pm at the Wastesavers Centre on the Usk Way Industrial Estate, in Newport.

After stealing a forklift truck and ramming through the gates of the nearby Monmouthshire Timber Suppliers, they then smashed through the Wastesavers entrance.

Once on the site, they smashed windows and damaged the steering locks and ignitions of the Wastesavers vehicles, and damaged property belonging to staff and volunteers. In one act of wilful damage, the vandals stole a portable colour television - only to smash it by driving over it with the forklift truck.

They also drove the forklift truck through the Waste-savers demountable office. Bob Parr is the operations manager at the site, which recycles thousands of tonnes of waste materials in Newport every year.

Mr Parr said: "There just seems no sense to it. "It was wilful and deliberate damage. We are a charitable organisation, and cannot afford this kind of thing. We will lose our no-claims bonus on all our vehicles, and that is something that we rely upon heavily to keep the costs of our service down to a minimum. We hope it will not affect our services to the people of Newport."

Mr Parr revealed that the following day three youngsters taunted workers at the site, saying "we messed up your forklift last night".

Inspector Julia Walsh, from Pill police station, said police would be keeping up their patrols on the industrial estate, and asked anyone with information to contact the station on 01633 244999.