MARKET officials in Urmston are counting the cost of vandals setting fire to a portable toilet earlier this week.

Denise Valente, of Urmston Artisan Market, has spoken of her shock about the incident ,which took place in the early hours on Sunday morning on Golden Hill Car Park on Park Road North.

The market has been running in Urmston for four years and Denise said: “We have put in some Covid-19 secure measures for our traders and tried to get a portable toilet so they don’t have to go to the shops or go to Sainsbury’s if they need to go to the toilet.

“So we found a firm that would drop it off on Friday and then pick it up on Monday.

“We made it secure when we left on Saturday and then we saw on Facebook that a homeowner had seen flames 20 feet high into the sky and called the fire brigade.

“When we got there it was just some molten plastic on the ground and there is no CCTV there so the police might not be able to identify anyone who did it.

“The park is often used by revellers to play music late at night.

“It is frustrating as we are trying to make the environment better for traders and customers as the traders are happy serving customers. We also give them PPE and screens when serving food.

“We had taken out a damage waiver with the hire firm but that does not include fire and now we have to pay £2,000 to replace the damaged one as we are liable.”

So far £500 has been raised on a GoFundMe page to help the organisers. If you want to donate then you should visit: https://bit.ly/2PozAIA