VANDALS caused thousands of pounds worth of damage after going on a wrecking spree targeting at least 28 cars.

Yobs scratched paintwork and threw eggs at the vehicles along Canewdon Road, St Vincent's Road and Hamlet Road, in Westcliff, overnight on Saturday.

One resident, who asked not to be named, said the vandals appear to have targeted newer cars and the damage to her Ford Focus was “demoralising”.

She said: “Having noticed it had been keyed or scratched heavily from the front wing to rear quarter panel, we travelled up our road and saw multiple cars had also been damaged.

“They all had the same scratch damage to various panels- whole sides, bonnets and boots. “Some cars had been egged on Hamlet Road and the trail of eggs lead from Alexander Street up Runwell Terrace and Milton Place, over the bridge to Hamlet Road.

“In total we took down the registrations of 28 other damaged vehicles on the whole route.

“The incident has been reported to the police and we have provided the registrations of the other damaged vehicles.

“We think there might have been even more vehicles damaged during this incident that had already gone out for the day when we checked at around 1pm on Sunday afternoon.

“We just want as many people as possible to report it so there is much chance as possible of them being caught.”

The resident said she believes the yobs deliberately targeted newer cars in an effort to annoy the owners.

She said the damage to her car is estimated at £400, but other cars fared much worse.

She said: “This area of Westcliff has got progressively worse over the years for various crimes, it's a sad state when you can't park your car on your own street without some petty individual damaging your property that most of us work very hard to have.

“It's so demoralising when you graft hard to have a safe family vehicle and some idiot thinks it's okay to damage it.

“Personally we take a lot of car over our belongings and cannot afford to pay for the repairs for the damage caused.

“It would be helpful if other affected parties also reported this crime to the police and any residents to check their CCTV footage which could help find the vandal.”