POLICE are hunting vandals who tore up playing fields in Renfrew after stealing a McGill's bus. 

The incident was reported to police early on Sunday morning by local councillor John Shaw, who spotted the abandoned bus sitting in the middle of Kirklandneuk Playing Fields while he was walking in nearby Ard Road.

The bus, which was taken from a depot in Greenock Road in Inchinnan, was driven around the fields leaving deep tyre tracks right across the two pitches. 

The pitches are used by Renfrew Victoria Youth Football Club, and Councillor Shaw said he has written to McGill's and council officers to see what can be done to help the team get them back into use.

Cllr Shaw said: "It's just absolutely mindless. Thankfully there doesn't appear to be any major damage on the likely routes the bus took to the park.

"I wrote to the managing director of McGill's Buses to see if there was anything they could do either through their insurances or their community engagement to assist in having the damage repaired to the football parks at Kirklandneuk both during the initial theft of the vehicle and the consequent recovery.

"I received a very speedy response stating that whilst the insurances were a no-go they would be 'happy to discuss what we can do to help'.

"Their speedy and positive response is commendable, particularly given they too were a victim of this crime."

Ralph Roberts, McGill's managing director, said: "We can confirm an intruder broke into our Inchinnan depot in the early hours of Sunday morning.

"We are working closely with Police Scotland to identify the criminal who stole our vehicle. This was an extremely dangerous act, and it is very lucky no one was injured.”

Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call 101 immediately.