How do you deter vandalism?

[Adam.W]

I'm not too sure about the ink, people could wash it off or cover it, unless there's a big [SMOKER] stamp on their forehead.

[TheBeast]

I agree, and some people are allegric to ink and/or the colouramts in ink

[Michelle]

Getting off topic again here guys- smoking outside of designated areas whilst annoying is not vandalism and the suggestion of branding smokers who get caught is just ludicrous. Please try to stay on topic.

I think the vandalism at AT which has always annoyed me most is graffiti on Thirteens queue line, it absolutely infuriates me. However I can't see an effective way of deterring it without the aforementioned cameras covering every inch of every queue line, and that would surely require a member of staff to watch at all times which does seem a waste of resources. It would be interesting to know how much money gets spent fixing vandalism per year.

[TheBeast]

It would be interesting to know how much is spent fixing vandalism per year

Not enough! With the astronomical charges they have for food and drink there, I would have thought they could deter or at least clear it up better after it has happened

[scw55]

Cleaning up vandalism asap is one way.
Existing vandalism encourages more vandalism. It subconsciously encourages people to think it's "ok" to vandalise the scenery since "other people are doing it".

[Adam.W]

To be honest the best way around it will be to prevent it rather than fix it, but depending on the ride it might be easier than others, for example the smiler queue is very compact and would only take about 3/4 cameras, whereas th13teen would need lots of cameras. Even if the cameras weren't being watched, they can be periodically checked for vandalism, then can trace them back through the recording, then finding them and doing something. But even still this will be a lot of effort time and money

[WaveyDavey]

Is it me or is it only those who can't seem to write their name on paper have to write it on walls. Short of covering the theme park in school workbooks (which would probably work except when it rains) there is nothing much you can do apart from report it when you see it sadly it is the way some of society behave today.

[Kraken]

I fully agree that Alton Towers should do more to counter the visitors who see it as their god-given right to scrawl their name / message along any queue line fence.

The reason they [Alton Towers / their Security department] won't do anything is because of the location of the park. If AT Security were to eject someone from the park, there is nowhere for them to go. If they have come on a coach trip, their coach is not going to depart early because one person has been ejected from the park. The "offender" will therefore wander round the local area for a few hours, quite possibly causing more trouble.

I fully agree there should be a zero-tolerance policy to both vandalism & queue-jumping. If the "word on the street" was that if you get caught, you are thrown out 100% of the time, then the message would start to get across.

[Jack]

I am all for a zero tolerance policy to vandalism. Why should there be any tolerance in the first place? It is not only affecting other guests experience, but meaning that Towers are having to sort out whatever damage has been caused, and depending on the severity of vandalism it must get quite costly over each season.

Although it may mean they have to wait around for the coach, who's fault is it but their own? I also very much doubt they would take any joy in going around Alton disrupting things, from what I can imagine it would crush any motivation to cause any more trouble in the same day

[Adam.W]

Quite a far walk too, it's in the middle of a big forest, remember :lol