GLASGOW allotments were vandalised and an elderly man threatened with a hammer just hours after CCTV covering the site was withdrawn.

GLASGOW allotments were vandalised and an elderly man threatened with a hammer just hours after CCTV covering the site was withdrawn.

Locals who use the Oatlands Leisure Gardens, on the South Side, want safety measures to be stepped up.

A new security fence has been installed, but CCTV covering the site was removed - and within hours the site in Elmfoot Street was attacked.

Firebugs torched a hut and the following day an elderly plotholder was threatened by a youth wielding a hammer.

Other incidents included a greenhouse being smashed, potatoes dug up and seedlings killed with weedkiller.

It comes after a series of attacks on the site last year.

Margaret Kerr, secretary of Oatlands Leisure Gardens, said: "We are calling on the council to reinstall CCTV. We had campaigned for a fence to be erected as the site has been left exposed since high flats were pulled down.

"Now the fence is up, but the CCTV has been removed."

Plotholders feel the site is now isolated after tower blocks were brought down in the area which is due to be developed.

However, delays in starting the building work mean the site now sits alone.

The new development means the allotments will eventually be moved to a smaller site adjoining nearby Richmond Park School.

Mrs Kerr added: "We feel very vulnerable - we have to think about the safety of our plotholders.

"We still don't know when we will be moving which has left us in limbo for months now."

Last Spring the allotments were hit by a spate of vandalism and huts were set on fire on a weekly basis.

A metal storage area for tools and the clubhouse were razed to the ground.