CATAPULTS used by fishermen to shoot out bait have been withdrawn from sale by local businessman Terry Glastonbury after a spate of damage in a Forest village.
Instead of being used to launch maggots a group of youngsters have turned the catapults into weapons of destruction, causing an outcry from residents in Bream.
"As soon as I heard what was happening I withdrew the catapults from sale," said Mr Glastonbury.
"I have been selling them for about 18 months without a problem. They are widely available from sports shops and by mail order but I have decided enough is enough.
"It looks as though it is a new craze but they will no longer be sold at my store," said the owner of Court Farm Country Store.
"I am really sorry and upset that this has happened. It looks as though a couple of rogues have got their hands on them and this is the outcome. But they will not be getting any more from here. As soon I was told what was happening they were taken off the shelf," he said.
"I believe I have acted responsibly by refusing to sell them, but I'm afraid they are so widely available that anyone who really wants to get hold of a catapult will have no trouble."
Mr Glastonbury's action follows a spate of damage caused by youngsters using airguns as well as catapults.
A woman who headed her letter to the Review "Bream Air Gun Terror", is urging parents to visit Hang Hill, The Tufts and Oakwood Bottom and see for themselves the damage caused by the teenage gunners.
"Thirty six panes of glass in the railway workshops are smashed, the insulators on the main power lines are damaged and house and road signs are targets," she says. She says that vehicles are now being fired at and, in a plea to parents, she adds: "These boys are all local, but obviously you, the responsible parent, do not know what they are up to. Perhaps you had better find out before a big claim drops through your letter box."
Businessman Bill Parker, who runs the railway workshop at the former Flour Mill Colliery site, has been hard hit by the vandals who have used windows at his premises as targets.
He has already spoken to the parents of two youngsters who have admitted breaking windows.
"That matter has now been dealt with, but there are others and now the police have been informed," he said.
Mr Parker said he believed it was irresponsible to sell airguns or catapults to youngsters and feared that as well as property pets, wildlife and children would become targets.
A police spokesman said selling the catapults was not illegal and Mr Glastonbury had acted very responsibly by taking them off his shelf.
"They are widely available and many youngsters make themselves. It is a gesture of goodwill that Mr Glastonbury will not be selling them.
There are those who would say 'if they don't get them from me, they will get them elsewhere," he said.