A COUNCIL took decisive action this week to remove Islamophobic graffiti from a bridge in Wellington, despite it not being their responsibility.

Wellington Town Council were first made aware of the graffiti on Monday, October 24, after having been alerted by a member of the public.

Shortly after this, they were contacted by Sergeant Jon O’Connor from the Neighbourhood Policing Team to discuss the matter.

The graffiti was located at Thunderbridge, near Tonedale, which is owned by Network Rail.

This means that the maintenance of the bridge is National Rail’s responsibility, but Wellington Town Council decided it would remove the graffiti themselves.

The town council’s decision was made in recognition of a potential delay in the response from Network Rail, which was estimated to be between two and three weeks.

Two members of the council’s Open Spaces Team were sent to the bridge, where they spent three hours on site manually scrubbing the graffiti using hand tools. This was because the proximity to the waterway prevented the use of chemical cleaners.

The Islamophobic message on the graffiti read: “F*** Islam, dirty pedos”, and featured the symbol of the christian cross next to it.

A spokesperson for Wellington Town Council said: “We are appalled by this act of vandalism. There is absolutely no place for such behaviour in Wellington. The content of the graffiti is not only criminal damage, it also constitutes a hate crime.

“It is deeply troubling that someone believes this is acceptable, and we urge anyone with information to report it to the police.

“Wellington prides itself on being a safe, inclusive, and welcoming community. We will not allow incidents like this to undermine that.

“It’s also worth noting that this incident diverted valuable resources—two staff members were pulled away from other essential duties, representing a cost to the town as a whole.”