FLOUR, brown sauce, mayonnaise and jars of pickled onions have been lobbed at cars in more than 50 cases across Oxford.

Vandals have been smashing windscreens and denting cars with the condiments in East Oxford, Cowley and Headington since October.

Drivers have been counting the cost of the vandalism, which police said has been carried out at random.

Paul Rogers had a 1.25kg bag of flour dent his car on the evening of November 4.

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The service engineers from Headington Quarry said: “I heard a thud in the evening but thought nothing of it.

“When I walked around the back of the car in the morning I saw the bag of flour and a massive dent in my boot.

“I was lucky because the flour didn’t break the rear windscreen. But it’s cost nearly £1,200 to replace the boot and get a hire car for three days.”

The 62-year-old, who lives in Weyland Road, added: “I’m a service engineer so my car is my office. I do over 1,000 miles a week and have all my tools in the back. Without my car I wouldn’t be able to do my job.”

Councillor Roz Smith, wife of Mr Rogers, said that she was shocked by the incident. “It’s no laughing matter. It is just completely mindless, these people aren’t stealing anything, they’re just causing mindless damage.

“The neighbourhood police have been patrolling the area, but communities also need to be vigilant.”

Helen Dancer, St Leonard’s Road, Headington Quarry, had her vehicle targeted by vandals on October 15.

She said: “We were brown-sauced. They threw a brown sauce bottle at the back of our car. It’s really upsetting because we’ve had to pay £300 excess and we’ve lost our no claims bonus on our car insurance.

“We have started parking our cars back-to-back in case they come back. I just hope they’ve finished with our street and moved on somewhere else.”

The mother-of-three, 46, said her husband, a software engineer, was notified of the damage by neighbourhood safety officers on patrol.

Other streets hit by vandals include Trafford Road, Barton Road, Quarry Road and Old High Street, as well as addresses in East Oxford and Cowley, police said.

Detective Sergeant Mark Hill, of Oxford CID, said: “We are investigating these crimes as a series. I am not going to disclose details of our investigation, but we are working with the neighbourhood team and looking at forensics.

“There isn’t a main area that has been targeted. It is sporadic around Oxford, but more events have occurred in Headington.”

Officers are looking at the possibility that the offenders were driving in a car during the attacks.

Thames Valley Police confirmed that no items have been stolen from the vandalised vehicles.

In both cases Asda own-brand products were used, but Oxford CID said that vandals had used a wide range of branded products.

DS Hill added: “The last recorded incident was on November 12. Some may think the crimes are petty, but we are looking for witnesses and we need people who have seen anything to come forward.”

The Oxford Mail has contacted Asda for comment.


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