Police have revealed strange surveillance footage that seems to capture the moment a man “in his 50s” appeared to remove a large bench from a contentious new US-style resting area in a town.
In Louth, Lincolnshire, the suspect was seen on video rolling up his sleeves and displaying his muscles as he tried to move the enormous wooden sun lounger.
To the chagrin of some locals, it was a component of a £60,000 seating installation known as a “parklet” that was the UK’s first of its kind.
Before, locals criticized the seating, calling it a “waste of government money” and said it resembled “naff sun-loungers on some random decking.”
When he took down a portion of the new sitting area around 3 in the morning on Thursday, one irate neighbor seemed to take matters into his own hands.
The guy is seen dragging the bench down a side lane on Little Butcher Lane where it was abandoned in video footage made available by Lincolnshire Police today.
At one moment, he raises the sleeves of both of his sweaters, flexes his biceps, and seems to be whispering “words of encouragement” to himself.
The police department released the CCTV as part of an ongoing appeal after two instances of criminal mischief and destruction to the building.
According to a Lincolnshire Police spokeswoman, there have been accusations of criminal damage in Louth, therefore they are asking for assistance in identifying the individual in the video.
The seats were allegedly relocated from Mercer Row to a side street on Little Butcher Lane by a Caucasian man who is thought to be between the ages of 50 and 65.
This allegedly occurred on Thursday, September 29, about three in the morning.
To forward our inquiries, “We would want to talk to the individual in the video.”
Love the way he rolls up his sleeves, one individual said in response to the cops posting the video on social media.
You can practically hear him saying, “Come on, you’ve got this,” as you can see him whispering encouraging things.
Someone another said, “You can tell he means business when he pulls up his sleeves.”
What happened to the good old days of returning home with a traffic cone after a night out? asked a third.
The county council’s executive member for highways, Councillor Richard Davies, said: “This is the second time that vandalism has occurred to these units, and we will be looking into the matter further.”
It’s a terrible tragedy that Louth residents who have been utilizing this facility for that purpose will no longer be able to do so until we can assess the extent of the damage.
A representative for Lincolnshire County Council said, “We have now passed this issue on in light of facts that we have learned from our inquiry.
“We will not be making any additional remarks concerning this assault on the parklet unit in Mercer Row while the police investigation is continuing,” the statement reads.
The brightly colored wooden chairs and decking were built by Lincolnshire County Council as part of a plan to attract visitors to stay longer in the town.
However, many locals found the “hazardous eyesore” that protrudes into a busy major road to be “baffling” and said it was “not in keeping” with the town’s Georgian architecture.
In San Francisco, where parking spots are converted into “vibrant communal areas,” the sitting platforms became popular throughout the country.
Locals in Louth, meanwhile, have fiercely opposed them, accusing the council of “losing the plot” and calling the sitting “hideous” and “a farce.”
Harry Bolton, a 48-year-old Louth taxi driver, has said that “everyone is absolutely floored at how horribly horrible they look.” It is a total waste of public dollars.
But they cannot feel secure on top of that. There is little protection from traffic, and they are protruding onto one of the town’s main highways.
Who wants to relax on a wooden beach lounger in the heart of a town while breathing in the fumes from passing cars, in addition to all that?
“This is not the United States; we are a historic Georgian town in Britain. They look terrible and are out of place.”
And that’s before you think about the safety concerns. Someone might suffer severe injuries or perhaps worse.
Residents are outraged by these kerbside devices, according to Joe Ventre, the TaxPayers’ Alliance’s digital campaign manager.
Local taxpayers are bound to question whether this program is the best use of their money during a cost of living crisis after having to endure another council tax increase this year.
Lincolnshire County Council needs to organize its priorities and cut costs for struggling households.
Email reports regarding the police’s shared CCTV can be sent to force.control@lincs.police.uk, or you can call 101 and reference incident 164 from September 30.
Independent charity CrimeStoppers accepts anonymous reports by phone at 0800 555 111 or online.