AN Andover shelter designed to provide an informal meeting place for youngsters has been so badly vanalised it's been demolished - and removed.

The shelter, erected at Smannell Road by the council with financial help from the police, had been popular with many youngsters but after the vandals struck at the weekend it has been removed.

The offenders marshalled several wheelie bins inside the structure, emptied the contents and set fire to the mess. Corporate director of Test Valley Borough Council, Bernard Sully, said: "It was considered that the shelter had been damaged beyond reasonable repair.

"For reasons of health and safety there was no alternative other than to take it down."

Mr Sully said there were no plans to replace the shelter but Cllr Robin Hughes, one of three councillors who represents the Alamein ward, thinks something must replace it. "I think that 90 per cent or more of the young people who used this shelter will be as disgusted at what has happened as the adults," he said.

"My own personal view is that we must not give in to the tiny minority who have done this.

"We need to find another way of establishing some other place for young people to meet which is a little bit away from housing but in a place less likely to suffer damage." Andover police spokesman, Ted Reynolds, said: "Once again it is the case of the mindless minority versus the law abiding majority.

"It is particularly sad because this shelter was well used and now youths will congregate in larger numbers near the shops during the evening - and many people already find them intimidating.